1 




Class_ 

Book 



.ft 



3 



THE FUTURE: 



Cjre §>xkm nf |»oiifo. 



BY 

A. ALISON, Esq. 

ACIROR OF "THE SECOND REFORMATION," KT< 



Ye shall know the Truth, 
And the Truth shall make you tree. 
John, viii. Z 



LONDON : 

J. ROWSELL, GREAT QUEEN STREET. 
LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS. 

1852. 



-ft ~> i 



%£ 



LONDON 



C- ROWORTH AND SONS. VR1NTHIS, 
BELL YARD, TEMTLF BAR. 



PREFACE. 



The Art of Politics has its roots in Moral 
Science or Abstract Truth. Moral Science re- 
gulates Belief and Opinion, and these govern 
Human Action. 

The Law which ought to regulate Belief 
and Opinion is Truth; that which ought to 
govern Actions is Wisdom, — the union of 
Truth and Liberty. Man is born free to act 
as he pleases, and yet he is responsible for 
his acts; and wise action comes from Truth 



a o 



6 
in connection with Freedom. Our Work on 
the Second Reformation treats of Principles; 
it therefore answers to the first division. It is 
a work on moral philosophy. 

The present work treats of the result of 
these Principles on the Future, and is intended 
to supply the second division. 

Politics may be stated thus : 

I. Abstract Truth or moral philosophy. — 

This Science has reference to Belief 
and Opinion, and the Law which 
governs it is Truth. 

II. Wisdom. — This Art has reference to 
_ Human Action, and the Laws which 

regulate it are Truth and Toleration. 
Such is Politics, or the art of governing 
Human Action. It treats of the actions of 
Individuals and Governments, and, generally, 
of the affairs of Life. It embraces all Science 
that bears on the Conduct. 



7 

The material of all Science is Facts — the 

internal and external Facts of Experience. By 

this means we are enabled to decipher the 

past, understand the present, and foresee 

THE FUTURE. 

"Knowledge is Power," because it confers 
power over the Future. It is because Know- 
ledge is only partially developed, that the Future 
is so little known. The Future is subject to 
contingencies which cannot be foreseen; but, 
with that difference, the Future is as legitimate 
a study as the Past. 

For the first time Theology (not Religion) 
takes its place among the Sciences,- and, if 
the present attempt to trace the outline of a 
system of Politics carries Science into new 
and unexplored regions, and contributes to 
deliver Moral Philosophy from its present 
state^f impotency, such must be ascribed 
to the incorporation of Theology with other 



8 
Science. Unless it can be shown that Theo- 
logy does not bear on Public Opinion, there 
was no alternative but to include it. To 
deprive the scientific inquirer of facts affect- 
ing Religious Belief, is to debar him from the 
study of Human Nature, which of course fur- 
nishes the primary data from which Moral 
Science is derived. 

Without Self-knowledge Moral Philosophy 
is impossible, and Man remains a riddle to 
himself. The world will no longer tolerate so 
palpable a limitation of the Rights of Con- 
science, for to this cause the slow progress of 
Knowledge and Civilization is owing. 

In consequence of the introduction of Theo- 
logy for the first time, that department of 
Science occupies a large portion of our space. 
Many difficulties had to be overcome, which 
accounts for our lengthened discussion on that 
important subject. 



9 

It does not appear that the Greek and Ro- 
man philosophers possessed more of the Know- 
ledge of Wisdom than is to be found in the 
Books of Job and Proverbs, although they 
were surrounded by a higher state of civili- 
zation. The Greeks unfortunately turned their 
attention to metaphysics, a much more capti- 
vating study, but one by no means favourable 
to the development of Knowledge. 

With regard to the present state of Politic? 
we should say the preliminary requirements of 
the Science are in a high state of forwardness. 
But as every one arbitrarily takes up a creed 
of his own — and as all cannot be right — it is 
evident that the Science of Politics is yet in 
a chaotic state. This Confusion must be 
turned into Order, when intelligent men may 
be expected to think alike, and act from 
ascertained principles. Such is the destiny of 
the Science of Politics, and the march of 



10 
Intelligence. The means by which this pro- 
gressive Civilization is to be effected are, 
I. Increased Knowledge. 
II. Improved Action and improved Legis- 
lation consequent on improved Know- 
ledge. 
Our two works embrace an unusually large 
field of inquiry, and we are not without hope 
that they contain the elements of the whole 
Truth. To give part and withhold part is not 
Truth, and we have spared no pains to com- 
ply with all its requirements. 

The Regeneration of the World depends 
on the acquisition and propagation of correct 
Knowledge ; and if the present work contributes 
in any degree to that regeneration, our object 
will be accomplished. 



Cheltenham, 

January, 1852. 



CONTENTS, 






Chapter I. 

PAGE 

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON BELIEF . 13 



Chapter II. 

THE REMEDY FOR THE PAPAL -OXFORD 

AGGRESSION 35 

THE TEST OF TRUTH THE FALL OF THE PAPACY. 



Chapter III. 

HUMAN BELIEF SUBJECTED TO THE TEST 
OF SCRIPTURE AND THE TEST OF 
EXPERIENCE 56 

PROVIDENCE — EVIL — CONVERSION THE OBJECT 

OF RELIGION THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN 

CHURCHES. 

Chapter IV. 

WEALTH 89 

EXPENDITURE — THE CURRENCY. 



Chapter V. 

LEGISLATION 106 

UNIVERSAL FREE TRADE AND DIRECT TAXATION- 
ELECTORAL REFORM CHURCH REFORM— THE 

TITLES ACT — CLASS LEGISLATION. 



Chapter VI. 

PAGE 

CIVILIZATION— THE PAST 140 

ANCIENT CIVILIZATION THE DARK AGES — THE 

FIRST REFORMATION. 



Chapter VII. 

THE PRESENT STATE OF EUROPE .... ICO 



FRANCE GERMANY. 



Chapter VIII. 



THE GENERAL REVOLUTION OF 1848 . . .188 

WAR — PEACE. 



Chapter IX. 

CIVILIZATION— THE FUTURE 208 

THE PROSPECTIVE RESULTS OF THE SECOND RE- 
FORMATION. 



Chapter X. 
THE SCHISM IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND . 220 

THE RIGHT OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT. 



Chapter XI. 

CONCLUSION 234 



A CONVERSATION ON BELIEF. 



CHAPTER I, 
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 



It is strange that in these days of research 
the doctrines of Religion should be allowed to 
remain without any serious effort to inquire into 
their truth, or any endeavour to define their 
exact import, as if the well-being of the nation 
did not depend on its Religion. The unsatis- 
factory results of so called orthodox Christianity 
are apparent both in the small measure of good 
it confers, and the constant strife it keeps up; 
and these are prima facie evidence that ortho- 
doxy either contains error, or is very imper- 
fectly understood. » 



14 

Theological works are generally occupied with 
controversies which never discuss the ques- 
tion as to whether doctrines and practices are 
true or false. They treat doctrines relative to 
human standards, and not to abstract Truth 
as well as Scripture. The Almighty has given 
to man a Test by which we may know right 
from wrong, the true from the false; and yet 
we refuse to use this test, and upbraid those 
who do. 

The misfortune of the World's position is, 
that the Laity know little or nothing of Theo- 
logy, and the Clergy as little of Human Na- 
ture, arising from the peculiar direction given to 
their respective studies. To produce a com- 
bined knowledge which shall elicit Truth, is 
most desirable. Notwithstanding the progress 
made in knowledge and civilization, the attention 
of the Church is still directed to the Past, and 
not to the Present and the Future, It is not 
by looking backward upon an infant world that 
new light can arise, but by looking on the 



15 

present and the future in the light of the past. 
Instead of poring over musty volumes which 
have been ransacked a thousand times without 
yielding profit, let the Church go forth on the 
world and teach the knowledge of Truth, and 
protest against sin and untruth in every shape ; 
then Ignorance will yield her sway, and sin 
and misery will cease to reign. 

That errors in Belief should be discovered, is 
only what was to be expected, for Ignorance 
and Error precede Knowledge and Truth ; but 
if we look for light by discussing what this man 
thought and another said and did a thousand 
years ago, we only deceive ourselves and per- 
petuate error. If we compare Scripture with 
Nature, the Truth will soon appear; and Science 
and Religion will be reconciled. If we read the 
Bible without reference to Nature, we worship 
the Word of God to the exclusion of his Works, 
thereby ignoring and disregarding the major 
part of the Revelations of the Supreme. This 
b 2 



16 

sin will be entirely removed by the introduction 
of the test of Truth. 

A Treatise on General Science like the pre- 
sent, to be worth anything, must have two 
requisites. 1. It must be comprehensive, and 
show the effect of its Doctrines on all the rami- 
fications of Nature ; 2. It must be in harmony 
with itself, and contain no inconsistencies. It 
will be necessary to bear these self-evident 
requisites in mind, if an answer be attempted. 
Unless principles be universally applied, so as 
to elicit the whole Truth, there can be no 
answer, for anything short of that is not Truth. 
If our works contain any untruth, they will 
admit of being answered ; and this is the only 
manly course open to those whose interests may 
be supposed to be in danger. 

In determining the Doctrines of our Faith, it 
is necessary to start from a fixed point; for 
without this the Intellect cannot act. We have 
opened the Scriptures with the belief that Re- 
generation is the object of Religion, and we 



17 

have interpreted all Scripture with reference to 
that self-evident object. The facts of Nature 
and the general scope of Scripture both attest 
the truth of this the governing principle of 
Religious Belief. If this preliminary point be 
granted, disagreements as to details cannot long 
exist. We call special attention to this point, 
should an answer be attempted. Let the object 
we have named be either denied or accepted; and 
if the object of the writer be to elicit Truth, he 
cannot refuse to grant us this request. In that 
case much good may be expected from a reply. 
It has been urged, as an objection, that our 
system is too free; that perfect freedom of 
Conscience is incompatible with Civil and Reli- 
gious Government. Our maxim is to leave the 
Conscience free, and at the same time to teach 
what is right. The first is the law of Nature, 
the last the law of Progress. As no Reli- 
gion which is not voluntary can produce any 
effect on the soul, or on the general conduct 
and happiness of man, there is nothing to be 



18 

gained by curbing his liberty. Good cannot 
come from anything opposed to Nature or to 
Truth ; and none will deny that Liberty is the 
birthright of every soul. It is not by inverting 
the order of Nature, or by introducing laws 
opposed to Nature, but by obeying Nature, and 
introducing laws by which Nature may be pro- 
tected from the selfish acts of man, that Good 
can be produced. 

Our system enlarges the sphere of the Con- 
science beyond what has hitherto been included 
under that term. Convictions of Truth, as well 
as those emotions which are known by the 
terms " a Good Conscience" and its opposite 
" Kemorse," are emotions of Conscience. For 
obedience to the laws of Truth, Justice, Wis- 
dom, and Expediency, Man is responsible; hence 
the sphere of the conscience is extended instead 
of being contracted. Personal Knowledge and 
Conscience are either identical or correlative. 
Knowledge, Conscience, Truth, and Intellect 



19 

will be found to be different aspects of the 
same thing. 

We have often been taught from the Pulpit 
that the effects of Grace are non-miraculous, and 
all that we propose is to bring the doctrines of 
the Protestant Church into conformity with 
that Great Truth. As " Conversion" determines 
all the doctrines of Religion, our system is sub- 
stantially orthodox, as that is preached from 
many Pulpits in and out of the Establishment. 
The changes proposed arise more from the 
undefined and undeveloped state of the Pro- 
testant creed than from actual error. This 
being the case, the reader will perceive that we 
have proposed no new Religion, but a new 
interpretation of the Scriptures. Our prin- 
ciples are not those of Destruction — but of 
Reformation (Improvement). If contending 
against unscriptural Miracles touches the essen- 
tials of Christianity, then our proposal is more 
than a Reformation ; but as we do not go be- 
yond that limit, it is evident that " Reformation" 



20 

is the proper title of the Work. To say that 
the change proposed affects the existence of 
Christianity, or any of the Institutions of the 
State, is to misstate the fact. 

We have said that the principles of the 
Second Reformation have been obtained by a 
new Interpretation of the Scriptures, by the use 
of Knowledge and the faculty of Reason. That 
we should dare to use Reason in reading the 
Scriptures seems to be a serious fault; we are 
said to exalt the Intellect above the Scriptures, 
and so forth. Let us consult Bishop Butler 
on the office of Knowledge and Reason, and 
the fallacy of such an objection will appear. 

On Reason, which is called the " candle of 
the Lord," Butler says : — 

" I express myself with caution, lest I should 
" be mistaken to vilify Reason, which is indeed 
" the only faculty we have wherewith to judge 
" concerning anything, even Revelation itself." 

The Revelations of the Works of God are of 



21 

equal authority with the Word of God. This 
is granted in the following words : — 

" It is to be added, that Light and Know- 
" ledge, in what manner soever afforded us, is 
" equally from God." 

Such is the use made of the Intellect by the 
author of " The Analogy of Nature and Reve- 
lation," and we venture to say there is no con- 
clusion contained in our Works which these 
principles do not justify. 

The Bible is the great bulwark of true Reli- 
gion and Liberty. Without it the world would 
still be worshipping dumb Idols; and with all 
our boasted Knowledge and Liberty, we believe 
that modern Civilization would resort to Idol 
worship — under the auspices of Rome — should 
the Sacred Volume be lost. 

If Christians wish to preserve their Bible in 
these days, when the press teems with sceptical 
productions, we must boldly open the Books 
of Nature and Revelation,— not with the view 
of keeping them asunder, — but with the object 
b5 



22 

of discovering the means of interpreting and 
reconciling them. This was evidently the view 
which filled Bishop Butler's mind, after having 
spent the greater part of his life in studying 
the analogy of Nature and Revelation; and 
when so great an authority in favour of the 
method we have pursued can be quoted, our 
conclusions ought to be seriously considered. 
God's word and works cannot be at variance; 
hence apparent inconsistencies must be ascribed 
to our imperfect knowledge of both. 

It is only by making use of the test of Facts 
that an escape from the Idolatrous Doctrine of 
Transubstantiation is possible. Head the Scrip- 
tures without remembering facts, and that de- 
basing Superstition must reign. " This is my 
" Body" must be taken in a literal sense ; and 
the consecrated wafer must be received as the 
actual Body of Christ. 

Read the Scriptures literally as regards Evil, 
and Original Sin must likewise continue to stifle 
inquiry and retard the progress of the World ; 



23 

but take facts along with us, and both Errors 
are renounced. If we sin against Scripture in 
the one case, we do so in the other. The fol- 
lowing quotation is our authority for such a 
course. " Who also hath made us able mi- 
" nisters of the New Testament ; not of the 
" letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, 
" but the spirit giveth life." — 2 Cor. iii. 6. 
Dr. Clarke, in explaining how many passages 
of the Scriptures ought to be read figuratively — 
although at first sight they appear to forbid 
that interpretation— states, that in the Hebrew, 
Caldee, and Caldeo-Syriac languages there is no 
term to express " mean," " signify," " denote." 
In these circumstances we ought freely to act 
upon the principle of deciding disputed ques- 
tions by the test of Facts. No reason can be 
given why we should not interpret Scripture 
figuratively as regards Evil as well as regards 
the Body of Christ ; and unless we apply the 
same rule to all Scripture, we read that Book 



24 

without rule, and disregard the first principles 
of Truth. 

We do not question the Miracles of the Bible, 
nor the possibility of Miracles even in our own 
day: all that we require is "evidence" for such ; 
and with regard to our Lord's divinity, and 
the truth of Revelation, there is no lack of 
well authenticated evidence, both as to the 
Miracles performed, and the divine Truth's 
taught. We see no greater difficulty in ac- 
cepting the mystery of the Incarnation than 
any other Miracle of the Scriptures. We 
should like to know how the Almighty could 
have spoken to man face to face except by 
the intervention of a man. It seems like a 
contradiction to suppose that a Spirit could be 
visible and yet omnipresent. " No man hath 
seen God at any time — the only begotten of 
the Father, he hath declared him." 

To suppose that the Almighty had no power 
to work Miracles, or to perform any act not 
implying an absolute contradiction, is to deny 



25 

to God the prerogative of Creator, Preserver 
and Governor of the universe. To deny this 
power is atheism. 

Until the Church adopts the Test of Truth 
as the ultimate appeal in all cases of controversy, 
it is evident she can have no definite or con- 
sistent Rule of Faith. . This we shall now 
demonstrate. 

If in one sentence we are told one thing, and 
in the next something opposite, the inevitable 
fruits of pulpit ministrations must be Infidelity 
and Scepticism. It might not be difficult to 
show that three-fourths of the Scepticism in the 
World arises from this cause. 

We only once listened to a discourse on the 
Deity, — a subject seldom touched. It will 
illustrate the tendency of existing Doctrines to 
teach Infidelity and Scepticism, if we describe 
it; and it will prove how necessary it is that 
Knowledge and Reason should be applied with- 
out reserve to the interpretation of Revelation. 
The Preacher began by stating that the doctrine 



26 

of General Laws was the high road to atheism. 
A teacher of Divinity could not be ignorant 
of the fact that such Laws do exist, so this 
assertion (unless he intended to deny the fact) 
means that the Revelations of Nature do not 
proclaim the existence of God. We shall find, 
that, instead of the affirmative of that Truth 
having the effect of producing atheism, its 
denial has that effect. 

The Preacher stated, that there were two 
errors to be especially guarded against in ap- 
proaching the sublime subject to which his 
discourse w T as devoted. We were, on the one 
hand, to avoid supposing God to be a person, 
and, on the other, to be a principle. The Deity 
was neither of these, but something between 
the two. The doctrines of the Westminster 
Confession forced him to avoid either of these 
conclusions, — an inconsistency which he ex- 
cused by stating that the Deity was incom- 
prehensible. Here we learn the actual state 
of Orthodoxy in this great nation — God is 



27 

neither a person nor a principle; and, of 
course, being neither, he is annihilated, for a 
Spirit devoid of personality is certainly not a 
God. We grant that the nature of God is, and 
ever will be, incomprehensible— - for the finite 
Intelligence cannot transcend its own nature, 
and comprehend the infinite Creator; but of 
course we deny that the existence of God is 
incomprehensible. We maintain that many of 
the doctrines of the Confession of Faith are in- 
consistent not only with the perfections of the 
Deity, but with his existence ; and the Sermon 
quoted confirms this opinion. 

We should like to ask the reverend Doctor, 
if he, or any other man, understands the West- 
minster Confession or the Thirty-nine Articles. 
The former is a Book compiled by fallible men 
like ourselves, and literally filled with incon- 
sistencies ; it is therefore a moral impossibility 
that it can be comprehended. The very exist- 
ence of the Deity must be held in doubt in order 
to support a System of Doctrines which has 



28 

been rendered well nigh obsolete by the increase 
of knowledge, and which ere long will be con- 
signed to oblivion. Are we told that the Con- 
fession of Faith is the result of the concentrated 
wisdom of our Episcopal and Presbyterian fore- 
fathers ? True, but when a Book contains con- 
tradictions it condemns itself, whoever its au- 
thors may be. The Ecclesiastical Titles Act is 
likewise the result of the concentrated wisdom 
of England in the nineteenth century ; and, as 
regards authorship, it is entitled to as much 
respect as the Work of the Westminster As- 
sembly; and who will undertake to say that 
the Titles Act is a perfect measure ? 

Had the learned Professor remembered that 
there were such things as Facts, he could not 
have commenced with the statement that General 
Laws destroyed belief in the existence of God j 
and by taking along with him the facts that 
these Laws do actually exist, he would have 
established the Divine existence without any 
difficulty. Abjure Superstition, and its conse- 



29 

quent Scepticism, and it is impossible to avoid 
assent to the three great poles of Belief, the 
existence of God, the responsibility of Man, 
and the immortality of the Soul. It is impos- 
sible that the prophecy, that all are to know the 
Lord, can ever be fulfilled while contradictory 
Doctrines are maintained, for such are found to 
obscure both the attributes and the existence of 
the Almighty. 

Mr. Macaulay supposes that the world will 
never come to think alike on Religion* — we do 
not think so. He bases his opinion on the expe- 
rience of the past ; but as man is a progressive 
being, that argument does not necessarily apply 
to the future. We know that a universal principle 
exists, which has only to be known, to produce a 
universal harmony as to the principles of belief 
and action. We do not doubt the difficulties 
which attend Education, but that the final 

* Macaulay's Essay on Ranke's History of the Popes. 
Perhaps the best digest on the Catholic question in the 
English language. Longman & Co., price Is. 



30 

triumph of Truth is only a question of time is an 
unquestionable truth. The supremacy of Truth 
must be conquered from reluctant nature step by 
step; but let us only get a satisfactory com- 
mencement, and progress will go on with ac- 
celerated speed as its perihelion is approached. 

The question which the present conflict has 
to decide is, not merely whether there shall be 
a Reformation, but whether another Dark Age 
is before us. We must either conquer Rome 
or Rome will conquer us — we must either ad- 
vance or go backward ! The shattered con- 
dition of the Reformed Churches is owing to 
disunion; and as union is the certain fruits of 
Truth, we have only to arm ourselves with the 
shield of Truth, and our differences shall dis- 
appear, and, with a united and faithful testi- 
mony, the triumph of Protestantism is at 
hand. 

By a moderate exercise of foresight any one 
will perceive that the change from an exclu- 
sive dependence on faith to obedience to 



31 

the commandments of Christ — the essence 
of the proposed Reformation — is sufficient to 
turn a partially-cultivated waste into a fruitful 
garden. Let the test of Religion be prac- 
tice, and " the wilderness and the solitary- 
places shall flourish and blossom as the rose." 
When reformed, Religion will be a reality. No 
Reformation which falls short of the change pro- 
posed can effect this, and nothing less can arrest 
the progress of Rome or rescue the World from 
the tyranny of Superstition. 

' If the Christian will look at the question of 
Reformation more in the light of duty than of 
consulting his own feelings and wishes, and if he 
will estimate its worth more as a great public 
Good than as a matter of private feeling, we shall 
thank God, and take courage. There is a great 
want of moral courage ; but we believe that an 
occasion for its exercise only requires to arise, 
to call forth the better feelings of our nature. 
We live in extraordinary times, and if there ever 
was a time when the cause of civil and religious 



32 

liberty demanded the exercise of self-denying 
patriotism, that time has now come, and to 
that feeling we make our appeal. 

At a critical moment like the present, when the 
destinies of future generations hang on the issue 
of public opinion, and when very little may 
turn the scale for or against liberty, every man 
owes a duty to the body politic to exercise his 
judgment, and only " to hold to that which is 
good ;" and we write in the hope that men will 
at last be aroused to inquire into the state of 
Religion. We ask the reader to take a large 
and independent view of the whole question, 
not in the spirit of a narrow-minded sectarian- 
ism, but of Christian patriotism ; and if he is 
not able to agree with all the details of our 
scheme of Reform, we doubt not he will accept 
its leading features. 

All great Reforms come from a pressure from 
without, and it only requires that men should 
know the evil which now threatens the nation, 
in order to secure a glorious Reformation, se- 



33 

cond in point of time, but not in importance, 
to the Great Reformation of Luther. It will 
be a boon well worth all it may cost, for we 
cannot doubt it will deliver Civilization from a 
precarious and unsatisfactory condition — a con- 
dition which arises from the undefined and 
undeveloped state of public opinion. 

The distinguishing feature of our system is the 
introduction of the Test of Truth. This test is al- 
ready partially in use by the Protestant Church, 
and it is only in consequence of such use that 
the Protestant Church differs from Rome. 
This we have already pointed out; and it seems 
as plain, as that two and two make four, that 
we have only to be consistent and apply the 
test of Truth universally, in order to place the 
Protestant Church upon an immovable basis of 
Peace, Unity and Prosperity. 

In interpreting the Scriptures we shall use 
two tests. The first is the Scriptures, the 
second is the Test of Truth. The one is the 
light of Revelation, the other the light of Na- 



34 

ture. The Scriptures are the groundwork, the 
Intellect (Knowledge and Reason) is the faculty 
by which to test its meaning. We shall not 
interpret the Scriptures upon the principle that 
every thing Protestant is good, or that every 
thing Catholic is bad, but we shall subject all 
Belief to a common standard. 



CHAPTER II, 

THE REMEDY FOR THE PAPAL- 
OXFORD AGGRESSION. 



The Test of Truth. 

The present Interpretation of the Scriptures is 
defective. We have proposed a new Interpreta- 
tion, got from a comparison of Revelation with 
Nature. 

Religious inquiry is usually occupied with 
questions relative to Faith, to the exclusion of 
Practice; now Truth demands that we should 
not only compare Scripture with Scripture, but 
Scripture with Nature. That Scripture should 
not only explain Practice (Nature), but Practice 



36 

explain Scripture. It is to the neglect of the 
test of facts that Revelation and Nature not 
only do not agree, but that many of the doc- 
trines of our Faith contradict experience. 

The Catholic finds a Test of Faith in a 
visionary standard which he sets up in the 
person of " the Church," and to this fiction the 
Church of Rome owes her unity and strength. 
Let the Protestant Churches be wise in their 
generation, and seek a Test that will produce 
that unity and strength which is now so much 
wanted; and when we can point to a test 
which is both true, and the certain means of 
unity and power, we cannot persuade ourselves 
that in this — the Church's hour of need — she 
will recklessly shut her eyes to an escape at 
once honouring to God and man. 

We believe the Protestant Church will ulti- 
mately lapse into the Catholic, unless the Papal 
Aggression ends in a Second Reformation. This 
may be thought a mere fancy; but we shall now 
show that it is an opinion supported by so high 



37 

a degree of probability as almost to amount to 
a certainty. 

The Scriptures admit of two distinct In- 
terpretations. This fact was proven by our 
former Work. The one we have called the 
Supernatural, and the other the Natural Inter- 
pretation. The one includes belief in miracles 
of daily occurrence, the other excludes such 
Miracles. The first is got by reading the Scrip- 
tures without reference to the facts of Nature, 
the last by reading the Scriptures with special 
regard to facts. 

To decide the all-important question as to 
where " the Truth" lies, we have interrogated 
Nature. We have found that all evidence is 
on the side of The Natural Interpretation; 
accordingly we are entitled to pronounce that 
Interpretation the truth. 

Nature is the subject-matter of Revelation, 
and we cannot conceive a more certain test by 
which to determine the correct reading of the 
Scriptures than an appeal to it. 

c 



38 

Let the agreement or disagreement of Nature 
with Scripture in future determine every dis- 
puted question of theology. 

Such is the Test of Truth, and such is doubt- 
less the appointed method by which the will of 
God may be determined in all cases of dispute. 
St. Paul exhorts the Church " to prove all 
things;" and, in recommending the Test of 
Nature as a remedy for religious disunion, we 
have complied with the injunction of the 
Apostle. 

The test of the Catholic Church is the fallible 
will of man, that of the Protestant shall be 
the infallible will of God. Truth is the will 
of God. 

Rome can appeal to the Supernatural Inter- 
pretation on behalf of many of her doctrines 
and practices. This fact accounts for the phe- 
nomenon, that a superstitious Church should — 
notwithstanding her impurity — triumph over a 
rival confessedly more pure. Rome is more 
consistent with herself than Protestantism, for 



39 

the doctrines and practices of the latter cannot 
be traced to either interpretation without under- 
going considerable change. 

The First Reformation was a step in the 
right direction. That step leaves the Protestant 
Church in a middle position between Truth and 
Error, and, being in this anomalous state, she 
can appeal to no consistent Interpretation for 
her Doctrines. Unlike the Catholics, she can 
neither say that she holds miracles nor dis- 
cards them, for either admission would be fatal; 
and, as everything must either be a Miracle or 
not, this difficulty meets the Protestant at every 
point. Protestantism may therefore be de- 
scribed as having one foot on the rock of Truth 
and the other on the trackless ocean of Super- 
stition, and to this fact all her troubles may be 
traced. 

When the Protestant discovers this fact he 

must either retrograde or go forward, for an 

untenable position is intolerable. He may be 

supposed to argue thus : To take refuge in 

c2 



40 

Rome is repugnant to the feelings, but even 
that is more agreeable than to be trodden down 
and despised ; and to go forward to Truth, and 
undertake the accomplishment of another Re- 
formation is almost too much for human nature 
to aspire to. Such may describe the position 
of the clergy and laity at this extraordinary 
juncture of the Church's history. 

Truth and Error are opposite principles. 
They cannot dwell together in harmony, for 
their nature is to repel each other. The nature 
of things is therefore to settle down into a 
state either of total Light or of total Darkness; 
for a half-way position cannot be maintained 
when the attack comes. We must either van- 
quish Rome or be vanquished, and the crisis is 
at hand. Protestantism is not only divided 
against itself, but it contains much imperfection. 
It must either move on to "perfection," and 
accept the Test of Truth, or take refuge in 
Rome, or in a state of darkness as bad. 

In the Providence of God the Protestant 



41 

Church is now placed on her trial. If she 
remain faithful to her Head, she will go for- 
ward boldly to Truth ; but if slothful, and lays 
the flattering unction to her soul, " that all 
things shall yet be well," there can be no 
reformation and no hope. If the battle be 
lost, the vanquished will not have it in their 
power to say " it was the Lord's doing •" for 
they might have adopted a criterion of Faith, 
which would have given them the victory, and 
they refused. 

It is proposed to cancel the Right of Private 
Judgment. This Right has always been consi- 
dered the brightest gem of the Reformation, 
and so essential is it to liberty and the main- 
tenance of a pure Faith, that were it lost the 
Reformation of Luther would be virtually re- 
pealed. 

To allow any class of men to arrogate to 
themselves the exclusive right of interpreting 
the word of God, of forgiving sins, and of 
opening and shutting heaven and hell to all 



42 

believers, there is an end of liberty. No check 
can be put on the authority of a Priesthood so 
constituted. When the Right of Private Judg- 
ment is annulled, the Clergy may interpret the 
Bible to suit their own purposes. A people in 
the possession of the rights of Conscience who 
would listen to such a proposal are unworthy 
of liberty. Such is the danger which threatens 
the liberty of this nation ; and, as the Church 
of England is not only assailed with this de- 
mand from without, but from many deluded 
members within, it is a danger of no ordinary 
magnitude, and one which may well provoke 
our exertions to put an end to the Papacy. 

Such is the Papal-Oxford Aggression, for 
which a remedy is so ardently sought by every 
friend of Civil and Religious Liberty. 

If men will not listen to anything but what 
pleases, they cannot complain if no one will 
venture to tell them the whole Truth, and with 
a Reformation this argument may be used, if 



43 

complaints are made that they have been kept 
in the dark. 

The slow progress of truth does not arise 
from the difficulty of finding it, nor from want 
of confidence in its authority when found, but 
because men dislike to be rebuked by it. This 
fact is as true of Modern Civilization as it was 
of the Jewish nation eighteen hundred years 
ago ; and so long as our Saviour's rebuke to the 
Jews can be applied to the present age, Modern 
Civilization has little to boast of. 

1. " Men have loved Darkness rather than 
light because their Deeds are Evil." — John, iii. 

2. " He that doeth Truth cometh to the 
Light." — John, iii. 

The first is the rule of the Feelings, the last 
the rule of the Understanding ; the one indi- 
cates the source of Sin, the other its cure. On 
the authority of the Saviour, we say it is in- 
cumbent on Man to prefer the rule of the 
Intellect to the rule of the Feelings, when the 
former comes into collision with the latter. 



44 

Truth is Divine, and when we thus give effect 
to our Convictions, at the call of Conscience, 
we obey the Will of God. 

Having now defined the Test of Truth, we 
turn to its effects on the World. 

The Fall of the Papacy. 

The Church of Rome has never been under- 
stood, and when the day arrives when that sys- 
tem of superstition shall be fully known its 
knell is rung ; and we believe it will be by 
pursuing the line of reasoning on which we 
have entered that that Mystery will at last be 
explained. 

There is a great principle in the Roman 
Catholic Faith, if a fiction can be called a prin- 
ciple. Mr. M'Gaven used to say, that every man 
was born a Roman Catholic, and the longer one 
studies Human Nature the more clearly does he 
see that Superstition is natural to man. 

I. Superstition. — The principle of Rome is 
the authority of the Priesthood over the Intellect 



45 

or Conscience of the People — this is disobe- 
dience to the Laws of Nature and Revelation, 
and therefore erroneous and non-progressive. 

II. The Truth. —The principle of Pro- 
testantism is the authority of the Intellect over 
the Feelings — such is obedience to the Laws 
of Nature and Revelation. Hence it is true 
and progressive. 

III. Scepticism. — To complete the circle 
of Belief, we must define the Religion of 
Reason, if such can be called Religion. The 
Rationalist faith is more negative than positive ; 
his Religion and Philosophy may be compre- 
hended in one word, doubt. Ask him if so 
and so be true ; he will reply, it may be so, but 
he does not know it. Of Positive Knowledge 
he has none ; hence, his is not the Religion of 
Intellect—which comprehends both Knowledge 
and Reason— but of Reason alone. 

The inevitable result of an exclusive reliance 
on Reason is Scepticism. Without Knowledge 
and Conscience, on which Reason is to act, the 
c5 



46 

Rationalist soon reasons away his Reason; he 
pursues an endless circle, and ends where he 
began, in doubt. It is strange that it does not 
occur to such that they may lose as much by 

UNBELIEF as by OVER-BELIEF. 

It may be asked if there cannot be a Ration- 
alism which accepts of both Knowledge and 
Reason ; we do not think there can. Religion 
comes from the feelings in connection with 
Reason ; now so long as the Rationalist refuses 
to reason from the feelings as well as from 
other facts, we do not see how he can have any 
Religious Knowledge. Such is our reason for 
denning Rationalism to be the Religion of Rea- 
son, and not of the Intellect, 

Since the Rationalist not only ignores Know- 
ledge but the Feelings, his must be regarded as 
the most imperfect of all forms of Religion. 

But while we denounce Rationalism, it must 
not be forgotten that the state of Religion, both 
in Catholic and Protestant countries, has mainly 
led to this. When we find Religion universally 



47 

professed, and all but universally set aside in 
practice — for that which cannot be understood 
cannot be practised — men are driven to Scep- 
ticism; and if we desire to save this country 
from that deluge of Scepticism which has taken 
possession of Germany and France, we must 
begin with reforming our faith, when the 
Church, instead of driving men away, will draw 
them to her. Scepticism arises from a muti- 
lation of Nature : hence it is unnatural, and it 
cannot long survive if the cause is withdrawn. 
It is not without a reason that man will submit 
to the self- degrading belief that he knows 
nothing, — that Conscience is a deception. That 
cause is doubtless the contradictory state of 
Religious Doctrines ; and if the Second Refor- 
mation removes this Evil, the school of David 
Hume will speedily die away. 

Such are the three great categories of Belief: 
the first, is the Religion of the Feelings; the 
second, of the Intellect and the Feelings ; and 
the third, the Religion of Reason. Than these 



48 

three phases of Belief there can be no other, 
and in one or other of these all Religions and 
Creeds must be placed. 

The Spiritualist virtually sets aside the Scrip- 
tures, and in this he agrees with the Rationalist, 
but there the resemblance ends ; but that coin- 
cidence does not make a Spiritualist a Ra- 
tionalist, as some have supposed. 

The Catholic, Tractarian, Spiritualist and 
Socialist all prefer the Feelings to the Intellect; 
These systems may all be traced to the same 
principle : we accordingly place them in the 
first category, although in the development of 
the feelings they all differ. This combination 
may excite surprise ; but if these systems either 
amalgamate or act in harmony with each other, 
it will only be what we expect. 

When we compare the Protestant with the 
Catholic Faith on the one hand and with the 
Rationalist on the other, the superiority of the 
Protestant Religion must be acknowledged. It 
alone embraces all the functions of Nature, 



49 

while its opponents are so defective that the 
one ignores Knowledge and Reason, and the 
other Knowledge and the Feelings. 

The Protestant says to the Catholic, accept 
the Intellect and join us, or reform your own 
Church. To the Rationalist he says, submit to 
Knowledge and respect the Feelings of Nature, 
and no longer deny yourselves the blessings of 
Religion. 

We shall now confine our attention to Catho- 
licism and Protestantism. 

The Creed of our opponents is indulgence of 
the Feelings, and denial of the Intellect, two 
principles alike suited to a primitive state of 
society, and very grateful to the natural man; 
hence the success of Rome in all ages and 
nations. The religion of the Protestant is 
an inward warfare — Self-denial— a Religion 
which can only flourish in an advanced state of 
civilization. 

On the side of Rome is uncultivated Na- 
ture — a Religion which is pleasant, and one 



50 

which unites men under a common head, but 
along with this advantage, the Catholics have 
to contend with moral and physical Evil. 
This state of suffering will force the Catholics 
to throw off the yoke sooner or later. 

On the part of the Protestants there is Truth 
and the physical and moral Good which at- 
tends that principle. This Heavenly guide will 
maintain harmony in the Protestant camp, to 
the extent of the obedience rendered to its 
dictates. To be successful, our warfare must 
ever be aggressive, for obedience to Truth im- 
plies exertion. The moment our educational 
efforts are slackened, Nature steps in and 
a revival of superstition is the consequence. 
When the labour of the moral husbandman 
ceases, Nature resumes its original state. It 
is only by a sustained crusade against Ignorance 
that the Protestant Religion can be maintained. 
The Protestant has Original Nature against him 
and Good with him; the Catholic Original 
Nature with him, and Evil against him. 



51 

These opposite Principles are the forces 
which are to contest the battle of the Second 
Reformation, and the issue of the conflict will 
depend very much on the spirit in which the 
Church of England meets the case. On her 
rests an overwhelming responsibility; for the 
course she takes in dealing with the Oxford 
and Papal Aggression questions will probably 
decide the fate of all the Churches of the 
Reformation. 

With this definition of the two Churches 
there remains no longer any difficulty in dealing 
with the Papal question, or of estimating the 
future destinies of the two Churches ; for if we 
have ascertained the respective causes of the 
contending Churches, it ought not to be diffi- 
cult to define and apply the remedy. 

The Protestant must encourage knowledge 
and liberty. He must submit to the authority 
of the Intellect, and deny the Feelings where 
they come into collision with that faculty. 
This conduct will consolidate and advance civi- 



52 

lization, and place Protestantism on a secure 
basis. So much so, that ere very long Self- 
denial will give place to that perfect balance 
of the Intellect and the Feelings— the supre- 
macy of the conscience — which is the inten- 
tion of the Creator and the goal to which all 
things tend. 

This progressive state of the world will spee- 
dily affect the Catholic Church. The reforming 
spirit of the age will force the Catholics, like 
the Protestants, to demand a Reformation of 
their Churches — a demand which can only 
be refused at the risk of the Catholic laity 
joining the Protestants. Behold the signal for 
the grand union of the Christian Church, when 
there shall no longer be Protestant or Catholic, 
but when the name of " Christian" will em- 
brace the civilized world and unite all Churches 
in one universal Faith. Then the Bishop of 
Rome will confine himself to his own diocese, 
and there is an end of the Papacy. Then the 
other Bishops and Clergy of the Catholic 



53 

Church throughout the world will regain their 
liberty. Such is the glorious destiny which the 
Protestants have in their power to realize. 

Let it not be thought we are painting the 
future in the language of the enthusiast. Not 
many years shall pass before the Work com- 
menced by Luther three hundred years ago 
shall be completed by the universal adoption 
of the principles of the Protestant Church, if 
the Protestants themselves are true to their 
own principles, and accept the test of 
truth. Let private feelings give way before 
the august majesty of Truth, and in thus obey- 
ing the God of Truth our courage shall be 
rewarded by the glory of delivering a world 
from Error, Oppression, and Suffering ; and we 
shall receive the reward of a good conscience, 
which the world can neither give nor take 
away. 

It must not be supposed that this great work 
can be achieved without adequate means being 
set agoing and sustained. 



54 

We must never forget that, powerful as our 
Engine — the intellect — is, that the Feelings 
are also powerful, and have always been domi- 
nant since the world began. The object of the 
Protestant is to overthrow this rule, and substi- 
tute the supremacy of the Conscience— a glo- 
rious work, worthy of many centuries to com- 
plete. 

The means of Reformation are: — 1st. A Re- 
formed and Extended Church; 2nd. National 
Education ; 3rd. The material interests of the 
Nation placed upon a secure basis of truth and 
equity; (These Reforms have been fully ex- 
plained by our chapter on Civilization;) and 4th. 
A central Representative Body to watch over 
and direct the energies of the entire Church 
throughout the world. 

The object of the Second Reformation is not 
only the Reformation of the Protestant and 
Catholic Churches, but the conversion of the 
Heathen and Mahometan. To accomplish this 
great work and mission, a seminary for the 



55 

instruction of Missionaries in every language 
under heaven is required, and such must be 
established in London or elsewhere. This Col- 
lege of all Nations will form a nucleus and 
medium by which every section of the Pro- 
testant Church will be corresponded with, and 
the respective wants of every Church and 
Nation known. A meeting of delegates from 
all nations must be called for the consi- 
deration of such a plan of operations, and we 
recommend the suggestion to the serious con- 
sideration of the friends of the Protestant 
Church, and of the great cause of Civil and 
Religious Liberty. 

Catholicism rests on opinion. Let Truth 
penetrate the mass of fictions which compose 
that system, and its errors and usurped power 
will vanish. Truth shall at last prevail, not 
only in the Catholic Church, but over error in 
every Church and Nation. 



CHAPTEK III, 

HUMAN BELIEF 

SUBJECTED TO THE TEST OF SCRIPTURE 
AND THE TEST OF EXPERIENCE. 



We now approach a very important and diffi- 
cult part of our subject, but as all parties are 
agreed that Scripture and Nature cannot dis- 
agree, it is not a hopeless task. We know that 
the remedy for Religious controversy exists, 
and that its discovery will be made by some 
one. 

Man is possessed of two independent sources 
of information, viz. Scripture and Nature. To 



57 

arrive at the Truth, in the case of disputed 
questions, it is necessary that both sources be 
used. We must either take Nature for the 
groundwork of Religious Belief, and make 
Scripture the test of its revelations, or make 
Scripture the basis and Nature the test. 
Believing as we do in Revelation, we adopt the 
latter course. 

A thing cannot be and not be at the same 
time; for instance, it is impossible that the 
wind could blow east and west in the same 
space and at the same moment. With this self- 
evident maxim before us, we maintain that a 
special Providence cannot be supposed to co- 
exist with a general Providence. Such a com- 
bination is either a physical impossibility, or 
one that would be self-destructive. We know 
the existence of a general Providence ; but as 
there is an entire absence of evidence for a single 
special act of Providence since the days of the 
Apostles, we know nothing of a special Pro- 
vidence. 



58 

Bishop Butler grants that the natural govern- 
ment of the World is carried on by general 
laws, as the following extracts show. 

" The Natural Government of the world is 
carried on by General Laws. For this there 
may be wise and good reasons ; the wisest and 
best, for aught we know to the contrary. # # # 
We find that interpositions (Miracles) would 
produce evil, and prevent good ; and, for aught 
we know, they would produce greater evil than 
they would prevent, and prevent greater good 
than they would produce." 

In addition to this visible system of Provi- 
dence, the Bishop supposes there is an invisible 
Providence, which may likewise be general. 
This view is explained as follows : — 

" The credibility that the Christian dispensa- 
tion may have been, all along, carried on by 
General Laws, no less than the course of Nature, 
may require to be more distinctly made out. 
Consider, then, upon what ground it is we say, 
that the whole common course of nature is car- 



59 

ried on according to General fore-ordained laws. 
We know, indeed, several of the general laws 
of matter ; and a great part of the natural be- 
haviour of living agents is reducible to general 
laws. But we know, in a manner, nothing, by 
what laws storms and tempests, earthquakes, 
famine, pestilence, become the instruments of 
destruction to mankind. And the laws, by 
which persons born into the world at such a 
time and place, are of such capacities, geniuses, 
and tempers; the laws by which thoughts come 
into our mind, in a multitude of cases, and 
by which innumerable things happen, of the 
greatest influence upon the affairs and state of 
the world — these laws are so wholly unknown 
to us, that we call the events, which come to 
pass by them, accidental; though all reason- 
able men know certainly, that there cannot, in 
reality, be any such thing as chance ; and con- 
clude, that- the things which have this appearance 
are the result of General laws, and may be 
reduced into them. It is then but an exceeding 



60 

little way, and in but a very few respects, that 
we can trace up the natural course of things 
before us to general laws. And it is only from 
analogy that we conclude the whole of it to be 
capable of being reduced into them, only from 
our seeing that part is so. It is from our 
finding, that the course of nature, in some re- 
spects and so far, goes on by general laws, that 
we conclude this of the rest. Now, if the re- 
vealed dispensations of Providence, and mira- 
culous interpositions, be by general laws, as 
well as God's ordinary government in the course 
of nature, made known by reason and expe- 
rience, there is no more reason to expect, that 
every exigence, as it arises, should be provided 
for by these general laws or miraculous inter- 
positions, than that every exigence in nature 
should, by the general laws of nature : yet there 
might be wise and good reasons, that miracu- 
lous interposition should be by general laws, 
and that these laws should not be broken in 
upon, or deviated from, by other miracles. 



61 

Upon the whole, then, the appearance of defi- 
ciencies and irregularities in nature, is owing to 
its being a scheme but in part made known, 
and of such a certain particular kind in other 
respects. Now we see no more reason why the 
frame and course of nature should be such a 
scheme, than why Christianity should" We 
make no apology for the length of a quotation 
so rich in the materials of thought as the one 
now given. 

Instead of saying that Divine Providence is 
probably general, Reason calls on us to take 
that for granted. Interpositions would do more 
harm than good; and a double system, carried 
on upon opposite principles (if different they 
must be opposite), would be destructive of each 
other, and, therefore, incompatible. What is 
usually called Special Acts of Providence are 
doubtless nothing more than the results of the 
General Acts ; for in every case, where these 
results can be traced, their causes are general, 
and not particular. No one doubts that a 



62 

general system of Providence is the ordinary- 
course of the Divine Procedure. That being 
the case, special acts of Providence must form 
the exceptions; and we maintain that Evi- 
dence is required to constitute an exception. 
This is the only safe course of Belief; and as 
the view man takes of the acts of God is the 
foundation of Human Belief, it is of vital im- 
portance that the principle acted on be sound, 
and such as Nature will not disown. 

It is a most dangerous doctrine to assume 
that there are two systems of Providence, and 
in the absence of Evidence it is quite unwar- 
ranted. This is the doctrine that the Roman 
Catholics use in support of their Miracles ; # and 
we need scarcely say that if the principle be 
granted, they (the Catholics) have as much rea- 

* " This comes of it, — that there are two systems going 
on in the world, one of Nature, and one above Nature; 
and two Histories, one of common Events, and one of 
Miracles; and each system and each history has its own 
order." — Newman's Lectures, 293. 



63 

son to believe their miracles as the Protestant 
has for his. There is no doubt that Miracles 
have ceased since the days of the Apostles, and 
that all the acts of God, whether manifesting 
themselves in outward things, or in the mind of 
man, have either General effects, or are the 
results of General Laws, and form one perfect 
system of Providence, by which the Supreme 
preserves and governs Man. 

It is impossible to check the spread of super- 
stition so long as a double system of Providence 
is held, for that is a principle which admits of 
any possible absurdity, and if Romish errors are 
ever to be put down we must commence with 
fixing what our own belief in Providence is; 
and with the opinion of Butler, that both sys- 
tems are probably general, one would suppose 
there exists no difficulty in granting the con- 
clusion to which we have come. 

Belief in a general Providence determines 
the origin of all events. It says, that although 
the institution of Grace, like the creation of 
d2 



64 

the World, is supernatural, yet its effects in 
Man are natural, and non-miraculous. Were 
the acts of God particular and not general, 
there could be no Foreknowledge and no 
Wisdom and Prudence ; and to indulge in any- 
other belief is to destroy foresight and know- 
ledge in proportion to our belief in special 
Providences. 

The great cause of Evil has generally been 
ascribed to Original Sin. We hold that its 
true cause is Ignorance, or want of Know- 
ledge. 

We cannot practise right conduct with- 
out Knowledge, except by instinct and chance ; 
hence true practice is contingent on Know- 
ledge. The want of knowledge is therefore 
the primary cause of Evil. This axiom is 
undeniable. 

There are two subordinate causes of Evil, 
which we shall call secondary; the first is, 
want of opportunities : for practice must 
from this cause, as well as from ignorance, ever 



65 

fall short of Knowledge. The other secondary- 
cause is SIN. 

When we possess the requisite knowledge, 
and will not follow its dictates, then it is not 
Ignorance, but the Will, which is at fault. 
Knowledge and Practice not only affect the 
acts of Man, but they increase and renew the 
Will. It is Practice alone that makes and 
fashions the Will — an evil Practice will make 
a perverse Will, and vice versa. " They that 
do the Truth, come to the light." — John, hi. 

Than these three causes of Evil, viz. Ig- 
norance, Want of Opportunity, and Sin, we 
know of no other. And if the advocates of 
Original Sin fail to point out any other cause 
of Evil, we shall claim an award in favour of 
" the Second Reformation." 

We do not question the existence of Sin, nor 
do we suppose that sin will ever entirely cease ; 
but this we do assert, that when Knowledge is 
increased, and the mists of Superstition and 
Scepticism are removed from the minds of men, 



66 

Evil will cease in proportion to the increase of 
knowledge. 

The Almighty has attached Reward to right 
conduct, and Punishment to wrong conduct, viz. 
Happiness and Unhappiness. When Education 
Is advanced and Truth generally known, all will 
see it their interest to obey its principles, be- 
cause they will observe such to be the con- 
stitution of things. In consequence of the Laws 
of Nature it is the interest of every man to 
practise that which is good — " Honesty is the 
best policy." It is because Happiness is con- 
nected with Justice and Truth, and the opposite 
with Injustice and Error, that we look forward 
to improved Practice in proportion to the im- 
provement of Knowledge. It is thus manifest 
that Knowledge is the primary requisite to secure 
a greatly improved state of society, and one in 
which Unhappiness will form the exception, and 
not the rule, as at present. 

Our Saviour found the world filled with 
wickedness, in consequence of the unrestrained 



67 

indulgence of the passions and feelings ; and, 
by preaching Righteousness, he published that 
everlasting Gospel, which is destined to fill the 
whole Earth, and deliver mankind from bond- 
age, according to his promise, " Ye shall know 
the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free " 
— free from the dominion of the Passions and 
Feelings, and free from Oppression and all the 
Evils arising from Ignorance. 

The purpose of the Supreme is to create a 
race of Intelligent Beings. To effect this pur- 
pose, external Nature, in all its variety of 
adaptations, is created. When this nursery of 
souls is prepared, Man, the object of creation, 
is brought forth. 

Upwards of six thousand years have rolled 
on since man was planted on the earth ; and 
although he has made great progress, there re- 
mains much to be done — evil still exists in ex- 
cess. Man must commence his career from a 
state of abject ignorance; for his Creator could 
not give him knowledge, and yet order that his 



68 

soul should be developed from this life. The 
Soul is developed from Experience; therefore 
Knowledge — the result of Experience — could 
not be given by God. This is the reason why- 
Man is born in Ignorance, and why the race 
must begin with the uncivilized state. Man 
is here to gather in the experiences of Nature, 
and transmit them to immortality. Nothing is 
created in vain, and nothing lost. 

God cannot create contrary to his own na- 
ture, or perform any act that implies an abso- 
lute contradiction — he could not grant to man 
original knowledge, and at the same time ordain 
that nature was to be the means of giving 
the necessary knowledge. To give knowledge 
would be to defeat the object of nature; hence 
all the evils which come from ignorance are 
unavoidable. Evils act as stimulants to man to 
exert himself for their removal. Unhappiness 
in all its forms is necessary for the develop- 
ment of the soul ; but it is not suffering, but 
relief from suffering, that is good. It is certain 



69 

that nature is perfect, or it would long since 
have gone out of order and ceased to exist. It 
was not created in a cultivated state, but " in 
a state of nature" that it was made over to 
man. Nature was perfect as a scheme to pro- 
gress and develope itself through the independ- 
ent agency of man. As a means to a definite 
end, creation is absolutely faultless. 

The mission of man is to produce Good, or 
reduce Evil. The laws of nature are the laws 
of progress; and such are the capabilities of 
man, that it is impossible to set any limits to 
the conquests which shall yet crown his efforts. 
The evil of original nature is the want of con- 
trol over the feelings — this evil decreases as 
the restraining power of intellect is evolved. 
We therefore infer that the limit of perfection 
on the earth will be reached when a perfect 
harmony exists within the soul. The facility 
given to education by the invention of printing 
ought to hasten this consummation ; and we 
believe that all that is wanting to put civili- 
v5 



70 

zation in a healthy state for progress is a re- 
formation in public opinion. 

Man cannot obey what he does not know; he 
has therefore to grope his way in the dark ; he 
has to emerge step by step from ignorance, error 
and superstition, to truth. His past history is 
thus a tissue of disappointments ; and on look- 
ing back on the history of the world, we must 
acknowledge that ignorance, and not the will — 
which depends on Knowledge and Practice — 
has been the great cause of the slow progress 
of man. For these reasons we conclude that 
the origin of evil cannot be ascribed either to 
God or man. 

To ask why Ignorance exists, is to ask why 
nature exists, for the existence of the one has 
been shown to involve the other. If any one 
will inform us why God could not create intelli- 
gent beings without the creation of nature, then 
we shall answer the question as to the existence 
of evil. Until then, we must remain satisfied 
with knowing that a thing cannot be and not 



71 

he at the same time; for to this cause have we 
traced evil, and beyond this point man cannot 

Conversion. 

To satisfy the reader that Grace — the Divine 
means of Conversion — is nothing more than 
Divine Truth or Knowledge, and that its effects 
operate inwardly without any miraculous or 
supernatural agency, we adduce the following 
passages in proof. 

"The seed is the Word of God." — Luke, 
viii. " Who shall ascend into Heaven," i. e., to 
bring Christ down from above, " or who shall 
descend into the deep," i. e., to bring Christ 
again from the dead. But what saith it, " The 
Word is nigh thee even in thy mouth, and in 
thy heart, that is the Word of Faith which we 
preach." — Rom. x. 7 and 8. " Faith cometh 
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of 
God."— v. 17. 

These passages show that a miraculous con- 



72 

version is anti-scriptural, and that the Grace of 
God is the Word of God. 

" This is the condemnation, that light has 
come into the world, and men have loved dark- 
ness rather than light." — John, iii. 18. "If I 
had not come and spoken unto them they had 
not had Sin, but now they have no cloak" 
(or excuse) " for their Sin." If I had not done 
among them the Works which none other Man 
did, they had not had Sin." — John, xv. 22 
and 24. From these extracts we learn that 
Ignorance is the cause of Evil, and the Will 
(arising from evil Practice) the cause of Sin- 
Responsibility is here limited to Knowledge. 

There is no word more apt to be misunder- 
stood than that of " Spirit ;" and unless we study 
the Bible with due regard to truth and con- 
sistency, there is no escape from error. "Spirit" 
sometimes means a Personal Spirit, and some- 
times Character, Reason, and such like ; and as 
the Bible has hitherto been left to be con- 
strued according to any view that happened to 



73 

strike the mind of the casual reader, we need 
not wonder that no two men agree on Religion. 

It is especially necessary to have a new trans- 
lation of the Scriptures, wherein " Spirit" where 
it means character may be distinguished from 
"Spirit" where it means a personal spirit; for, 
until this be done, there can be no end of con- 
troversy on the subject of conversion. 

The Spirit of God is in those who obey the 
Divine Will; but where there is no obedience 
there can be no Divine Spirit, whatever the pro- 
fessions or belief of men may be. 

As a second cause God is responsible for no 
act of man. St. Paul had a clear conception 
of the double work involved in the process of 
Conversion when he wrote these lines : " Work 
out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 
for it is God that worketh in you." — Phil. ii. 12. 
Conversion is impossible without God's work, 
and it is equally impossible without man's, unless 
by a Miracle. 

If Miraculous Conversions were to be ex- 



74 

pected, the invitations of Christ would be mockery 
and his mission vain. If salvation came from 
special gifts of spiritual inspiration, God would 
be a respecter of persons, a lover of some and 
hater of others. 

Conversion is either natural or supernatural. 
If Christians choose the former creed they 
agree to the Second Reformation, and if they 
take the latter, they break down the great 
difference in principle from the Roman Faith. 
If any one is inclined to question our views of 
Conversion, we must reply, by asking the ob- 
jector to state whether Conversion is a Miracle or 
not. If Miracles be granted no line can be drawn 
between truth and error, for there is as much 
proof for one Miracle as another; and Truth, 
the Divine part of Nature, is forever foreclosed 
and ignored. The evil of the undefined state 
of Protestant Doctrines is now universally ac- 
knowledged. There is, happily, too much light 
now to allow this " half-way" state of the Pro- 
testant Church to stand much longer, for again 



75 

we repeat that we must either advance boldly, 
and entrench ourselves in Truth, or take refuge 
in Rome. 

The object of religion. 

" To love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart and soul is the first and great command- 
ment, and the second is— To love thy neighbour 
as thyself; on these two commandments hang 
all the Law and the Prophets."— Matt. xxii. 37. 
These words of our Saviour intimate what true 
Religion is— they convey as precise a definition 
of " Religion," " Righteousness," or " Right 
Conduct," as language can give. 

" If I had Faith to remove mountains, and 
had not Charity (Love), my Religion is vain."— 
Cor. 13. 

Love to God and love to man, stimulated 
and controlled by the Word of God, and by 
Knowledge and Reason, produces the renewed 
Soul. The emotion of love is the material of 
Religion, and perfect love to God and man is 



76 

perfect Religion. From love — the creation of 
God, and obedience — the work of man, all 
Religion must come. The word of God pro- 
duces the motive; hence Grace is the cause of 
obedience. 

That Grace may operate Man must feel his 
constant dependance on the love and mercy of 
God, — attributes abundantly set forth in the 
person and work of Christ. " We all, as in a 
glass, beholding the glory of the Lord, are 
changed into the same image." 

Belief or Faith is Truth received and 
dwelling in the Soul. It is this Spirit of Grace 
and Truth which affects the conduct and re- 
news the will. Belief is necessary to Practice, 
but Belief is not the object, but the means. 
It is a very common mistake, in subtile ques- 
tions like the present, to mistake the Cause for 
the Effect; and if we suppose Belief to be the 
object of Religion, or the sole ground of justifi- 
cation, we commit that error. This will explain 
those passages of Scripture which appear at first 



77 

sight to read as if Faith were the sinner's reli- 
gion and justification. 

Religion must be a thing to direct the con- 
duct, or it is not Christianity. To suppose 
that the object of Religion is to exalt God is 
to annul the object of the Saviour, which was 
to do good to man. The motive of God in the 
gift of Christ is his own glory. His object is 
the Regeneration of man. The object of man 
is self-improvement, so that he may glorify his 
Maker, and save his own soul. 

It is only by obeying the Commandments 
of Christ — to act in life from the motive of love 
and justice — that we can glorify God. Mere 
profession is nothing : "Not every one that 
saith Lord, Lord, but he that doeth the will of 
his Father, is accepted of him." 

Let the gospel scheme of Redemption be un- 
derstood, the conversion and civilization of the 
world will go on satisfactorily. So little are we 
in the habit of using the Understanding that we 
do not recollect ever having heard the word 



78 

" understood" used in connection with Religion 
except once. It is as necessary to understand 
as to believe. 

Before we can understand Religion, or turn 
it to profit, we must ascertain its object. Reli- 
gion must have a definite object, or it cannot 
be put in practice. The object of Religion must 
either have reference to God or Man, for if it 
has a definite object it cannot comprehend 
both. Religion cannot be a reality to man in 
this life unless its object has reference to his 
Conduct. 

Does faith in the assertion, that Man has 
fallen and that Christ has atoned for that fall, 
regenerate ? It does not. The Heart remains 
as corrupt as ever. All admit this fact; but 
it is excused, and brought forward as a tri- 
umphant proof that original corruption is true, 
and admits of no actual cure. The reason why 
man does not improve is, that the object of 
Religion is placed on Belief to the exclusion 
of Obedience ; for unless the Laws of God are 



79 

obeyed it is certain there can be no improve- 
ment and no regeneration. 

Belief alone produces no inward change, but 
when Belief and Practice go together a change 
ensues. If this fact be never lost sight of, it 
will guide the reader in safety through all the 
intricacies of this much vexed but little under- 
stood question. 

In treating; of Human Nature in our former 
Work, it was discovered that a Good Expe- 
rience, or Regeneration, was the object of life. 
It was proved that man is susceptible of actual 
Regeneration. This result is a proof of the 
truth of Scripture, and the advantage to be 
derived from comparing Scripture with Nature. 
The object of Life and of Religion must be 
substantially one, and when we name rege- 
neration as the object of Religion we state a 
truth to which all will assent. 

The object of Life and of Religion is to im- 
prove Original Nature, or to renew the Natural 
Man. Born the slave of impulse, man is raised 



80 

above the natural state by the practice of Re- 
ligion. As the natural herb is to the cultivated 
plant, so is the natural man to the renewed 
man. 

Regeneration — the object of Religion — is a 
fixed point. Place Justification where you will, 
the object named remains the same ; for unless 
the object of Religion be changed from Man 
to God, (which deprives Religion of a practical 
object,) Regeneration is the object. We there- 
fore approach the difficult subject of " Faith 
and Works" from a definite point, and one 
which must determine the whole question. 

John the Baptist preached Repentance, and 
not Faith in imputed Righteousness. Our Sa- 
viour followed, and his preaching corresponded 
with John's in every respect. Had Christ come 
for the purpose of furnishing in his own person 
an ideal transference of righteousness, he would 
certainly have said so; but on an examination 
of the four gospels it will be found that Christ 
is not only silent on the subject, but, on the 



81 

contrary, he insists on repentance and personal 
righteousness as the only gate of heaven. He 
speaks of his death as necessary for the Re- 
demption of the world; but that he taught the 
people that they were to trust in his righteous- 
ness, and not on their own obedience to his 
Commandments, is directly opposed to the fact. 

We should like to know what was the meaning 
of calls to repentance and reformation if Man 
had no power to repent and reform. Who was 
so highly honoured with the revelations of 
Christ as the apostle John ; and as his Gospel 
is the last written of all the books of the Bible 
it would certainly have contained the doctrine 
of Imputed Righteousness if that had been in- 
tended as the object of Faith. Christ's Death 
and Resurrection were necessary for the salva- 
tion of the World, but that does not necessarily 
involve so contradictory a doctrine as imputed 
Righteousness. 

We shall now be asked, if we can account 
for certain passages in the Epistles which coun- 



82 

tenance the doctrine of imputed Righteousness. 
Granting, as we do, the inspiration of the 
Scriptures, we cannot undertake this; at all 
events, not from the existing translation. But 
this we do say, that the difficulties attending 
the interpretation of the Scriptures vanish into 
nothing by rejecting imputed Righteousness, 
compared with adherence to that doctrine. 

The zeal of the early Reformers, to deliver 
their countrymen from the yoke of the Papacy, 
led them into various errors, and none more in- 
jurious than that of retaining Belief as the sole 
ground of justification. To get rid of Devo- 
tional works of merit, such as Penance, Con- 
fession, Gifts to the Church, and the Forgive- 
ness of Sins, granted by the Priests in ex- 
change for these Works, they exalted Faith 
so far beyond its proper office as virtually to 
ignore the practice of right conduct — thus 
the cure was worse than the disease ; an error 
which has stopped the progress of the Re- 



83 

formation, and which will be its final ruin if 
not speedily corrected. 

Such is our view of justification. It is the 
only one which harmonizes with Nature or 
Scripture. "Ye see then, how a man is justified 
by Works, and not by Faith only." — James, iii. 
24. " Be not deceived, God is not mocked, 
for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also 
reap/' — Gal. vi. 7. " Until the Law, Sin was 
in the world, but when there is no law, Sin is 
not imputed." — Rom. v. 13. 

We are aware that these quotations are not 
alone conclusive, because there are others 
which would countenance the opposite theory. 
In this dilemma what are we to do but inter- 
rogate Nature for a solution? And when we 
apply that test the whole difficulty vanishes, and 
we agree with St. Peter, that " to fear God 
and work Righteousness" is the whole Duty and 
Religion of Man. — Acts, x. 34. 

Not to detain the reader with any further 
proofs, we may state generally that there is no 



84 

principle or conclusion of " The Second Refor- 
mation" which may not be substantiated by an 
array of Scripture surpassing any Evidence that 
can be found for the Orthodox Creed; and if 
this statement be doubted, let us have a system, 
upon the orthodox or any other theory, that we 
may subject it to a fair and impartial comparison 
with our own. 

THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. 

The Schism in the Church of England arises 
from a difference of opinion on the office of the 
Clergy. The high church party claim the con- 
cession of a special divine authority to the 
Priesthood, involving the exclusive right of in- 
terpreting the Oracles of God, and the un- 
churching of all churches, who do not claim a 
similar origin. The Evangelical party see in 
this demand the essence of Romanism and the 
cancelment of the right of Private Judgment. 
This claim is of course a betrayal of the prin- 
ciples of the Church of England and of the 



85 

Protestant cause. It is an attempt to rear up a 
Hierarchy and Church on the model of Rome 
and of the Priesthood and Ceremonial of the 
Mosaic Dispensation. 

The notion of a Priesthood is either borrowed 
from the Jewish worship, or arises from the error 
of confounding the two systems. The Jews 
had a hereditary Priesthood, a Daily Sacrifice 
—the burning of Incense, and so forth — and 
so have the Catholics, If the Jewish Religion 
is to be the model of the Christian Church, 
we must pronounce in favour of the Catholic 
form of worship. But as we cannot read the 
New Testament without perceiving that Christ 
came to put an end to the Jewish Church by 
substituting the Christian religion, it follows, 
that attempts to bring the Christian Church 
under the bondage of rites and ceremonies, 
after the Jewish fashion, are anti-Christian. 
Such attempts must be denounced as St. Peter 
did of old under similar circumstances. " Why 
tempt ye God to put a yoke on the neck of the 

E 



Disciples, which neither our Fathers nor we are 
able to bear?" — Acts, xv. 10. 

The indiscriminate reading of the Old Testa- 
ment in our Churches has tended to keep up a 
veneration for the Jewish Worship which was 
never intended, and dangerous to Christianity. 
The two Dispensations are as opposite in their 
characters as possible. The Jewish Religion 
says, Go through certain prescribed acts of 
Worship and your forgiveness is wrought out. 
This answers to the Works of Merit of the 
Catholic. The Christian Faith says, God is a 
Spirit, and they who worship God must worship 
him in Spirit and in Truth ; i. e., not in outward 
acts of worship, but in the love and practice of 
true Religion. Not merely in Jerusalem, or in 
consecrated places, but everywhere, are the true 
worshippers to worship the Father. 

The Jewish Religion has accomplished the 
purpose for which it was instituted — now let it 
pass away; why should they who inherit the 
promises burden themselves with a system 



87 

which is not only forbidden, but oilers no 
advantages. The Reformation of Luther de- 
livered the Christian Church from part of these 
burdens. The daily sacrifice of an Atonement 
was taken away, but Imputed Sin and Im- 
puted Righteousness were left, which we main- 
tain were as clearly borrowed from the Jewish 
Religion as the Mass — and it is certain that 
if Christ abolished the one, he also delivered 
Man from the burden of the other, 

" For if that first covenant had been faultless, 
then should no place been sought for the second. 
This is the covenant I will make with Israel ; I 
will put my laws into their minds, and write them 
in their hearts, and they shall not teach every 
man his neighbour, and every man his brother, 
saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me, 
from the least to the greatest. In that he saith 
' a new covenant/ he hath made the first old. 
Now that which decay eth and waxeth old is 
ready to vanish away." — Heb. viii. 

If we desire to see a Reformation, and the 
e2 



speedy fulfilment of prophecy, we must begin 
by clearing our minds from the error of mixing 
up the Jewish with the Christian Church. 
The fact that the Jewish Sabbath (our Satur- 
day) has never been kept by the Christians, 
ought of itself to show that there is no practical 
connexion between the Church of the Jews and 
the Church of the Christians. 



89 



CHAPTEK IV, 



WEALTH. 



Wealth is the surplus between income and 
expenditure. It is the savings of Individuals. 
Its production depends on two things, viz. In- 
come and Expenditure. 

The art of expending Income being less un- 
derstood than that of producing it, we propose 
to direct attention to " Expenditure." 

Wealth expended on living is Unproductive; 
that laid out on works — where a return is ex- 
pected — is Productive. We shall begin with 

Unproductive Expenditure. 
Not only are expensive habits ruinous to the 



90 

Individual indulging in them, but the Nation 
loses by extravagance. Unless expenditure is 
kept under Income, Wealth cannot be in- 
creased, and the public good is certainly not 
consulted by expensive living. The necessary 
expenses of Life is a constant drag on the in- 
crease of Wealth. To live is the object of 
Wealth, yet the necessity of labour cannot be 
overcome but by the creation of a surplus. Now 
as the diminution of Labour ought to be the 
aim of Civilization, — that higher pursuits may 
be substituted, — it is most desirable that ex- 
pensive habits should be avoided both by the 
rich and the poor. 

It is generally supposed that the expensive 
habits of the rich do good by the employment 
afforded. If general good be meant, we dis- 
sent in toto to such a doctrine. If wealth 
is not spent in luxuries, it will find its way to 
productive employment, which will be a na- 
tional gain, and special instances of loss will 
merely be temporary, as operatives thrown out 



91 

of employment one day will soon find employ- 
ment in more useful departments of industry. 

Productive Expenditure. 

Many believe that expenditure on productive 
Works, such as Railways, Cotton Mills, &c, 
cannot be injurious to the national interests. 

After the experience of 1847, it will not be 
difficult to expose this fallacy. 

If a Manufacturer overbuilds himself, he is 
ruined, although his Works would have been 
profitable if he could have spared the means. 
He has not only gone beyond his own means, 
but beyond what his credit warranted, and 
although he struggles on for a few years, yet 
the expense he is put to in borrowing money 
on disadvantageous terms sweeps away the 
profits, and when the first panic comes round 
his failure is announced. This is probably the 
cause of nine- tenths of the failures of Manu- 
facturers. Never was there a greater fallacy 
than to suppose that speculation may not be 



92 

disastrous, although it is such as ought to yield 
a fair return for the capital laid out. 

The same may be said of the Nation. If 
the aggregate of Individuals (the Nation) over- 
build themselves, as they did in 1847, general 
distress and bankruptcy must ensue. 

It may be laid down as a fixed principle, 
that although an individual may go beyond his 
capital by borrowing from his neighbour within 
certain limits, yet a Nation cannot spend more 
than its annual savings on Property without 
producing Evil. If the annual savings of the 
Nation be Sixty Millions, that sum ought to 
cover the national expenditure on fixed Pro- 
perty both public and private. 

In 1845 to 1848 we expended a sum equal 
to our savings on Railways alone, and as the 
usual Works of the Nation went on at the same 
time, Great Britain — in those disastrous years 
— went beyond her means to at least double 
the legitimate amount. 

We will be asked if the money paid out by 



93 

the Banker one month did not return the next. 
We answer it did not. The calls were per- 
manently abstracted from the available Capital 
of the Nation and sunk. We will next be 
asked if by " sunk" we mean " lost." As re- 
gards the present generation, the capital is lost. 
After suffering unparalleled distress, consequent 
on excessive Railway expenditure, it is poor 
consolation to be told that our children will 
reap the benefit of our ruin. 

By the expenditure of 1846, 1847 and 1848, 
one hundred and fifty Millions more than usual 
were taken from the employers and consumed 
by the employed. The workmen employed on 
Railways expended treble what they formerly 
had done. This new demand increased our 
imports, and created a deficiency of Capital. 
Bankers were unable to afford their customers 
the usual accommodation ; Bankruptcy ensued, 
and workmen were thrown out of employment. 

To this Evil was added a succession of defi- 
cient harvests, which still further swelled the 
e 5 



94 

deficiency of food, which had to be made good 
by importation. From these two causes, 1st, 
over expenditure on fixed Property ; and 2nd, 
bad harvests, do we owe a season of Bank- 
ruptcy and Distress unparalleled in the history 
of trade. 

It was vainly supposed that the calls would 
come back. The coin was certainly not sunk 
in the embankments, but the food which the 
coin purchased was consumed. If we only 
leave out of view " the medium of exchange," 
there is no difficulty in perceiving how the hun- 
dred and fifty Millions expended have been 
permanently taken from the available Capital 
of the Nation. 

The World had found out a new method of 
getting rich, and laughed at the remonstrances 
of the Economists. Science was right, but the 
Nation was much too self-willed to listen to her 
warning voice. Parliament might have checked 
the Evil by refusing to grant Railway Acts, 
but it either had no faith in Science, or had 



95 

not the moral courage to put a negative on the 
National Will. 

It is certain that we cannot convert more of 
our floating Capital into fixed Capital than our 
annual savings will warrant without suffering 
loss, and no future promise of return can 
palliate such a mistake. 

Credit. 

It is as natural that one man should lend his 
savings to another, as impart his knowledge to 
another. This granted, it may be asked how 
far Modern Civilization is right in enforcing the 
rights of Creditors over their Debtors by penal 
Laws. 

Legal recovery for debts is doubtless an evil 
— probably a necessary evil — which has led to 
incalculable evil and misery. When law comes 
in, honour goes out; and when we can leave 
Nature at perfect freedom in respect to buying 
and selling, great good may be expected. 

We do not see how Commerce could be 



96 

carried on without some legal means of reco- 
very for debts, but the power of the creditor 
over the debtor might be relaxed with great 
benefit to society. Future Legislation should 
be so directed that the Law of Debtor and Cre- 
ditor may be modified as far as circumstances 
will allow. In respect of small sums, we think 
the time has come when an experiment ought 
to be tried, and until this is done, man's respect 
for honesty will not have been put to the test. 

If Legislation is an Evil, that Evil will de- 
crease with the advance of Civilization, and the 
future history of Legislation ought to be that of 
repeal more than enactment. The object of 
Legislation is not how many restrictions can be 
borne by the People, but how few will suffice 
for the ends of Government. Perfection is 
simple. To simplify the Laws and abolish un- 
necessary Laws ought to be the aim; and both 
these maxims might be applied to our commer- 
cial Code with great effect. 

Bank notes, Bills and Mortgages are all 



97 

means by which lending and borrowing are 
facilitated. By Bank notes the Public lend to 
the Banks, and by Bills the Banks lend to the 
Public, and so on. 

We are now prepared to say what Capital or 
Wealth is. Capital is anything that possesses 
an exchangeable value, such as Lands, Houses, 
Ships, Factories, Goods, Coin, &c. Bank notes 
and other securities are Debts. These are not 
capital, but only the evidence of Capital lent. 
To the holder these securities represent part of 
his property. In treating of Wealth it is im- 
portant that Debts should not be mixed up 
with Capital. It will simplify the science very 
much if nothing but actual property was 
counted on the one hand, and nothing but 
debts on the other. 

The debts of a Nation doubtless bear some 
proportion to its capital. If the Bank notes, 
Bills, Mortgages, and other debts, both public 
and private, be added together, the sum would 



98 

probably be equal to what may be fairly called 
" the floating capital of the Nation." 

It is usual to divide Capital into two parts. 
This is to a great extent arbitrary, as the only 
difference between floating and fixed capital is 
in degree. There is no real distinction between 
the two kinds of Capital. The necessaries of 
Life constitute the chief item of floating Ca- 
pital; and it is only because goods are more 
easily converted into money than heritable Pro- 
perty that there is any distinction between the 
two descriptions of Capital. 

To show that Currency and Wealth are two 
distinct things, we need only mention that the 
Coin in circulation does not exceed fifty mil- 
lions, whereas the floating Capital alone will be 
ten times that amount. A small quantity of 
coin in proportion to the business transacted is 
only required, and if we would keep the me- 
dium of exchange out of view when we become 
political economists, we would find no difficulty 
in dealing with questions relating to Wealth. 



99 

Coin. 

What is a pound ? 

To this question we cannot answer it is 
twenty shillings, for that would lead us to the 
question, what is a shilling, and so on. 

In reply to the question, we say that a 
pound is a measure of value arbitrarily chosen, 
but universally agreed on. By this measure 
the relative value of every article of commerce 
is ascertained. The present value of a pound 
is the weight of gold contained in a sovereign 
at £3 : 17s. lOJd. an ounce. 

This " measure" being arbitrarily chosen, it 
may be altered at pleasure, without affecting 
the real value of commodities — the value of 
which is not arbitrary. To change the esta- 
blished measure for ascertaining values is un- 
desirable, as it would be a long time before the 
Public could learn to convert values by a new 
measure. 

Currency is the coinage of a Nation. It 
either consists, or ought to consist, of coins equal 



100 

to the value of the metal of which they are 
composed. 

The measure of value of Great Britain is the 
weight of gold contained in a sovereign at 
£3 : 17s. \0%d. per ounce. If the price of gold 
falls under that price, and the weight of the 
coin remains unaltered, a change in the mea- 
sure of value is the result. 

Having stated the principle upon which 
" currency" rests, we proceed to examine those 
circumstances which will speedily call for con- 
sideration and legislation. 

The annual produce of gold has been trebled 
since the discovery of the mines of California 
and Australia; and this liberal supply may be 
expected to be maintained, if not increased. 
It is no longer a question whether the price of 
gold will be reduced, but what the contem- 
plated reduction may be. 

The Bank of England will soon find itself in 
the position that she must demand release 
from the obligation laid upon her to purchase 



101 

gold at a fixed price. When this may occur, it 
is difficult to foresee, but it cannot be far dis- 
tant. When the Bank is set at liberty, the 
price of gold will of course go on receding 
until it finds its level, like any other article of 
commerce. 

What ultimately regulates the price of any 
article is the cost of production. In the 
case of mines, the plentifulness or scarcity of 
profitable fields affects the price; but with the 
single exception of gold, no important metal 
has long maintained the position of being a 
monopoly. Gold has at last ceased to be such. 

Gold-fields seem to be inexhaustible, and in 
future the cost of production will be the chief 
regulator of its price. Taking this for granted, 
a great reduction in the price of gold may be 
expected in the course of the next few years. 
That gold will fall to one-half its present value 
there is no doubt; but if it falls much below 
that point, the production would probably fall 
off, and the price recover. 



102 

No alteration in the price of gold can affect 
the real value of Property or Commodities, but 
if we wish to retain our present measure of 
value (a pound) unaltered, legislation will be 
necessary. 

If gold is allowed to fall in price, public and 
private creditors would suffer injustice. Debts 
contracted when the sovereign was worth one 
pound sterling would — in the event of Gold 
falling to 40s. an ounce — be payable with 
sovereigns worth only half a pound. 

There is a simple method by which this evil 
may be avoided without loss or inconvenience. 
Let the weight of Gold and Silver coins be 
subject to increase or decrease in weight ac- 
cording to the selling price of gold and silver. 
Let the present weight of the sovereign and the 
present price of gold remain the standard, and 
all changes of weight calculated therefrom. 

Suppose a fall of ten per cent, in the price of 
gold, all the government would have to do 
would be to call in the sovereigns and re-issue 



103 

them of a weight ten per cent, greater, and so 
on with every important change. This would 
always keep the sovereign at the same value (a 
pound), and even the apparent price of Pro- 
perty and goods would be insensible to any 
change in the value of the precious metals. 

The value of Silver depends mainly on the 
cost of production; for this reason it is un- 
likely that any change in the value of Gold can 
seriously affect it. If it were desirable to 
maintain the old system of a fixed value of the 
precious metals, the standard might be trans- 
ferred from Gold to Silver. This, however, is 
very undesirable. Money panics have ever ex- 
hibited great embarrassment to the strong as 
well as the weak, and while this anomaly con- 
tinues, it is prima facie evidence that something 
is wrong. 

Whether it be true or not that money panics 
are brought on by the arbitrary acts of the 
Bank, in connection with the maintenance of a 
forced value of gold, it would be a pity — when 



104 

a change is imperative, at any rate — if we did 
not take the opportunity of exchanging a doubt- 
ful system for one which is safe, because it is 
natural. 

Under the system suggested, neither trade 
nor property could be affected by the rise or 
fall of Gold, whereas under the present system 
trade is ever exposed to sudden panics from 
any slight derangement of the foreign ex- 
changes. 

Such is all that seems necessary for the pre- 
sent work on the important subject of Wealth, 
and the result is, 

1. That the Wealth of the Nation depends 
on Prudence as well as Diligence; that if men 
go on spending to the utmost of their means, 
there can be no relief from Labour and Com- 
mercial Distress ; that it is a fallacy to sup- 
pose that expensive habits produce aught but 
evil. 

2. That money spent on fixed Property is 
actually sunk. When this expenditure exceeds 



105 

the savings it is productive of Commercial dis- 
tress. Individuals may go beyond their sav- 
ings or means by borrrowing within legitimate 
limits, but a nation cannot without producing 
Evil. 

3. That the legalized price of Gold ought 
immediately to be abolished, and an act substi- 
tuted by which the Government would be au- 
thorized to vary the weight of the several coins 
of the realm, so as to counteract any rise or fall 
of the price of the precious metals. 



106 



CHAPTEE V, 
LEGISLATION. 



I. Universal Free Trade. 
It is obvious, that so long as Custom and 
Excise Duties are levied, perfect Free Trade 
is impossible. To set Trade completely free, 
from the shackles of tariffs we must resort to 
Direct Taxation. When this grand Reform 
is accomplished, there will be a unity of in- 
terests affecting the producer and consumer, 
and between the agriculturalist, the manu- 
facturer and the merchant. National interests 
will no longer be divided against themselves, 



107 

and the industry and prosperity of all will 
increase the national wealth. 

Some will reply, that a perfect Free Trade, 
and the absence of clashing interests, would do 
very well if other Nations would follow the 
example. We grant that the question of Free 
Trade, like all great questions, cannot be dis- 
cussed without reference to other nations — for 
a nation is only a member of the community of 
nations — it will, therefore, be necessary to 
examine this objection. 

If an individual produces more wealth than 
he spends, he enriches the nation, and if a 
nation produces more than it spends, that en- 
riches the world ; and if Free Trade be good 
for one country, it must be good for the world 
at large. We do not doubt that the benefit 
would be greater if all nations acted upon right 
principles as well as ourselves; but because 
others will not do right, that is no reason why 
England should not. In the case of Free 
Trade, it will be shown that universal FreeTrade 



108 
is England's best policy, although no other 
nation followed. 

The more corn or anything else we produce 
from our own soil the better. If Free Trade 
affects the quantity produced, it will be to in- 
crease it. The effect of Foreign competition is 
either to increase Production, or to annihilate it. 
The soil and climate of England— for raising 
crops — will challenge comparison with any other 
country in the world. This being the case, it is 
evident that native agriculture can never cease. 
The effect of Free Trade must be to stimulate 
the produce. If a farm does not pay at free- 
trade prices, exertions must be used to make 
the farm produce more. Increased supplies 
from our own soil is the natural result of Free 
Trade. 

As regards Wages, we have nothing to fear, 
for such are as low in England as in most 
countries, especially if we recollect the amount 
of work given. 

" Protection" taxes the Consumer for the 



109 

benefit of the Producer. To keep up the price 
of Provisions limits the sale of manufactures, 
and the employment of labour, — Trade lan- 
guishes, — Wealth does not increase, and Pro- 
perty falls in value. 

The adoption of perfectFree Trade by England 
would do some good to the foreigner at first ; 
but very soon it will place England in the 
proud position of having no rival. If England 
adopts universal Free Trade, and the other 
nations do not follow, she will become the 
cheapest country in the world, and the only 
one where Manufactures can be produced for 
export! 

This result, however, is neither what we 
expect nor desire. A few more years' expe- 
rience of a triumphant Free Trade will convince 
all nations of the folly of " Protection," and 
the result will be that a perfect Free Trade in 
England will produce the same all over the 
world. 

Protection is unnatural,— it is an arbitrary 

F 



110 

interference with the Laws of Nature, and being 
such we have only to set Nature free from the 
trammels of Tariffs to deliver the world from 
the pecuniary loss which arises from Protection, 
and the mass of suffering consequent on that 
loss. 

In America wages are high, owing to the 
inexhaustible supply of unappropriated lands. 
While land can be got for nothing — yielding 
a fair return for labour — the labour market 
cannot be overstocked, and good wages are 
maintained. For this reason, we are of opinion 
that Manufactures cannot flourish in America 
without a high tariff to protect them. 

Congress will ere long be compelled to de- 
clare definitely for or against Free Trade. To 
reduce wages is neither desirable nor possible 
so long as unappropriated lands remain; but 
let not the Americans imagine that their only 
resource is to maintain or increase their Tariff. 
To this doctrine we demur. 

America may be obliged to cease to manu- 



Ill 

facture. An infant Nation, possessing a soil 
only partially settled, has not arrived at the 
point when it can divert its attention from 
Agriculture — its legitimate pursuit — to Manu- 
factures. If America decides for Protection, 
she may cover the country with Factories, 
and shut out the imports of England. By 
gaining trade in the one way, she will lose it 
in another; but if that were all, the gain in the 
one case might possibly balance the loss on the 
other. 

The Protection policy taxes the American 
Public to an extent which cannot fail to retard 
the progress of the nation. Native Manufac- 
tures, produced by the employment of workmen 
at double the wages paid in England, will keep 
the price of clothing, machinery and imple- 
ments at a much higher price than they would 
otherwise be. If the savings of any nation are 
absorbed by high prices paid for the necessaries 
of life, the accumulation of wealth is impossible; 
and every one knows that the disadvantage 
f2 



112 

America labours under is the want of accumu- 
lated Capital. 

If America decides for Free Trade, her pro- 
sperity ought to exceed that of any other nation. 
Tn the receipt of high wages, *he people will be 
supplied with manufactures and all the neces- 
saries of life nearly as cheaply as in England : 
hence the increase of wealth must go on in 
America in a double ratio compared with any 
nation in Europe. Let America allow Trade 
to take its natural course and Agricultural 
pursuits will realize every reasonable expecta- 
tion. By sending us Corn and taking our 
Manufactures in return, the Americans will 
consult their own interests, whereas by Protec- 
tion they will increase their own burdens while 
they deprive us of their trade. 

Such is the state of the Free Trade question 
— a subject which has long occupied the atten- 
tion of our Legislature. The initiative must 
have been taken somewhere, and the honour 
of being the first nation to adopt Free Trade 



113 

principles belongs to England, and furnishes 
by far the brightest page of British history. 

It is generally supposed that the great debt 
of England presents a barrier to Perfect Free 
Trade; but since the experiment of the present 
Income Tax that idea is fast dying away. We 
have only to extend the present Income Tax 
to about three times its present amount, and 
make no exemptions, and the annual sum ne- 
cessary for defraying the interest of the debt 
and the national expenditure is produced. It 
is a mistake to suppose that men would grudge 
a direct tax. They would soon discover that 
they had less to pay directly, than they now 
pay indirectly, and, besides the direct saving, 
there are few who would not derive an indirect 
benefit arising from the increase of trade con- 
sequent on the change. 

The Landlords and Farmers ought especially 
to advocate such a settlement. Direct Taxation 
will free them from the prohibition of growing 
Tobacco, — from the Malt and other taxes 



114 

which bear heavily on the land, and from the 
Assessed Taxes. 

Complete Free Trade will extinguish Poor 
Laws. By maintaining class interests, the 
Landlords are paying in the shape of Poor 
Rates the penalty of class legislation. By 
abolishing these interests, the landed interest 
will be released from the burden of rates which 
are severely felt at all times ; and which w r ould 
involve that interest in universal ruin, when- 
ever a great calamity befel the Nation. The 
Land is the ultimate resort in case of need, 
and as favoritism must produce Evil, such 
must fall somewhere, and ultimately that must 
be made good by the holders of Land. If the 
Landlords understand their own interests, they 
will demand a change of Taxation and uni- 
versal Free Trade. It is their right, and they 
have only to make their wishes known, to 
carry a Reform which will settle the question 
and place all the interests of the nation upon a 
permanent basis. 



115 



II. Electoral Reform. 
We now approach a subject — less important 
than the one we have left— but one which oc- 
cupies more of the attention of the nation than 
any other question. Man is naturally prone 
to attend to things which affect his feelings 
more than his interest. It is thus alone that 
we can account for the fact, that the attention 
of the nation has been diverted from many 
practical Reforms— to a Reform which after all 
may disappoint its advocates. 

Universal Suffrage. 
This demand is just, and we believe the time 
has arrived when it may be granted with safety 
and benefit to the Constitution. One man has 
as much right to vote for a Representative as 
another. Arbitrarily to exclude any class is 
a mark of reproach; hence the feeling which 
the working classes have ever evinced on this 
question. We do not expect much good from 



116 

the extension of the Franchise in the shape of 
better legislation ; but as it will reconcile the 
industrious classes to the aristocracy, the con- 
cession of universal suffrage may be looked 
forward to as a great National Reform. For 
ourselves, we should have as much confidence 
in the fidelity and judgment of a House elected 
by the middle classes as in one where the po- 
pular element preponderated. . 

We do not believe that Universal Suffrage 
will make much change in the present House 
of Commons. If it changes fifty seats, it is 
the utmost we expect. It will have this effect, 
however* that the popular Will will bear more 
directly on its Members; and if fears are enter- 
tained that popular opinions without, will have 
too great a sway within the House, the Govern- 
ment must look to the education of the People 
— the great bulwark and safety of the State. 

Electoral Reform is looked forward to as the 
cure for every evil which attaches to Govern- 
ment. Class Interests are to vanish before 



117 

Universal Suffrage, the Ballot, and Electoral 
Districts. 

We shall by and bye call attention to the 
remedy for Class Interests, meantime we shall 
show that Electoral Reform is not that remedy. 

It is chiefly improved Public Opinion which 
carries Reforms, and if so, improved Legisla- 
tion does not depend on Electoral Reform. We 
believe Mr. Cobden would have carried his 
Corn Bill with nearly as much ease before, as 
after the Electoral Reform of 1832. 

If the National Will was more likely to be 
correct than that of the Aristocratic and Mid- 
dle Classes, and if the representatives of the 
people were less exposed to the temptations of 
self-interested motives than men of independent 
fortune, then we should expect nothing but 
good from Electoral Reform; but as we have 
serious doubts on these points, we cannot look 
to Electoral Reform as an infallible remedy for 
Class Interests. The Popular Will is often 
arbitrary, and always liable to error. For this 



118 

reason, it is essential to the maintenance of 
Liberty that the House of Commons should 
not be a mere echo of the Popular Will. Par- 
liament must possess an independent Will, and 
when it sees right to put a negative on the 
National Will it ought to exercise a power 
which is the only check to a danger which is 
inseparable from popular Governments. 

While we would freely grant to every man 
the right of voting for a member of parliament, 
we would only do so upon condition that the 
House of Commons is not made a mere 
Meeting of Delegates, but a body possessing 
an independent voice. This principle con- 
ceded, we apprehend no danger, but much 
good, from Universal Suffrage. 

The Ballot, 

The scenes of debauchery and immorality 
which periodically degrade the Nation is a 
dreadful evil. The bad habits acquired at a 
single Election are enough to ruin a whole 



119 

lifetime of previous morality. Elections are a 
necessary evil, and all that can be done is to 
make them as harmless as possible. 

While the number of Electors is limited, the 
Ballot appears to be the only cure for bribery; 
but when voting is universal, we scarcely think 
the security of the Ballot would be required. 
We do not expect that bribery and unfair influ- 
ence will entirely cease in any case ; but with 
Universal Suffrage we question if the evil will be 
such as to call for secret voting, — which is not 
desirable, if it can be avoided. It is supposed 
that stringent Bribery Acts is the only way to 
put down Bribery; but if Nature be studied, 
such an opinion may be questioned. We would 
have legal penalties attached to Bribery re- 
laxed rather than increased. Public Opinion is 
a much more effectual protector of the elector, 
and this check will come more and more into 
play as the legal protection is withdrawn. All 
men naturally feel a horror of fraud and bribery, 
and the fact of unfair means being used has 



120 

only to be known, to raise a storm of indigna- 
tion against the party using such. In this way 
the practice of bribery and unfair proceedings 
at elections would probably decrease. If not, 
we should prefer resorting to the Ballot as a 
remedy to a more stringent Bribery Act. 

In America they have Universal Suffrage in 
connection with the ballot and a bribery act. 
If Universal Suffrage was tried in England 
without these adjuncts, w T e cannot doubt the 
experiment would be successful. 

The Duration of Parliaments. 

It is dangerous to place the opinions of 
Members too much in the power of their con- 
stituents, which would be the case if the dura- 
tion of Parliaments was too much restricted. 
With Triennial Parliaments a representative 
would not be a free agent, he would always 
have to look to the next Election. If the 
People remember that they are fallible as well 
as others, and how often the Popular Will has 



121 

been wrong, they will concede this point. 
What is the British Constitution but a system 
of checks; and the check on the popular voice 
by the Septennial Act is one of the most effi- 
cient. If the Aristocracy concede the Suffrage, 
the People must concede the seven years Par- 
liament, and upon this basis a final settlement 
of the question may be expected. 

Electoral Districts. 

We are favourable to a revision of the Sche- 
dule of the Reform Bill, so as to improve the 
distribution of Members; but we deprecate the 
proposal of mapping out the country into de- 
partments, as in France. 

Centralization in all its forms is objection- 
able. Let us reform, but not destroy, the 
Constitution. The interests which surround 
town and country politics must not be swal- 
lowed up in the vortex of a single Assembly. 
We must cherish and respect our independent 
Municipal Institutions as well as our inde- 



122 

pendent House of Commons. There is no 
necessity to allot Members by square and rule; 
and even if that was the case, we should like 
to know where such a rule is to be found. If 
it was attempted to make Population the crite- 
rion, the result would excite such a storm of 
opposition whenever its effects were known, as 
to defeat the proposal. The importance of 
Scotland demands that she should have thirty 
or forty more Members, — which would fall to 
be taken from England. But this claim — 
nothing more than justice — cannot be main- 
tained, if " Population" is to be the sole crite- 
rion. 

The distribution of Members must be to a 
great extent arbitrary. While Population ought 
to be the chief element, the interests to be re- 
presented must likewise be considered. 



123 



III. Church Affairs. 
Toleration. 

This is a principle more admired in theory 
than acted on in practice. Toleration is ano- 
ther word for Justice and Liberty, and on it 
progress in civilization depends. 

To maintain Toleration is to refuse to per- 
secute. We must lay it down as an unalter- 
able maxim, not to do evil that good may 
come. 

Parliament will be asked to consent to two 
measures, which will test its principles on this 
point. The Catholics will solicit the repeal of 
the Titles Act, and the Protestants the repeal 
of the Endowment of the College of May- 
nooth. With regard to the Titles Act, it is 
certain that if Territorial Titles had been 
assumed by Protestants, no Bill would have 
been called for. It is therefore owing to the 
fact that Catholics — acting upon orders from 
Rome — have taken that step, that the Titles 
Bill owes its existence. In these circumstances 



124 

we must consider the Ecclesiastical Titles 
Bill to some extent an Act of Intolerance; but 
for the Papal Bull it would have been entirely- 
such. 

The Pope and Cardinals have assailed the 
rights of the Nation by their Papal rescript 
But provocation is not an excuse for a wrong 
act, and if the Pope went wrong, that is no 
reason that an enlightened Nation like Eng- 
land should follow a bad example. The Papal 
Aggression on the rights of the Crown calls 
for a Protest — it may be of War — and the 
former would be effected by a declaratory Act. 

The Titles Bill supplies the Catholics with 
an excellent pretext for agitating the Nation 
against the Government. By the Catholic de- 
mand for its repeal, the Protestants are unfortu- 
nately placed in the position that they cannot 
say their opponents are wrong. The result will 
soon show that an error has been committed, 
and we should say that the sooner the Titles Bill 
is exchanged for a Declaratory Act the better. 



125 

To act upon the Law, by prosecuting the con- 
tumacious Bishops, would only make the case 
worse, and if this be so, we cannot see what 
good retaining the Bill can do, but to place a 
weapon in the hands of the Catholics to our 
own confusion. 

With respect to the Maynooth Grant, we 
must say the attempt to repeal it is ill-judged. 
The endowment of that College is as much a 
part of the law of the land as anything else, 
and to disturb that endowment without a suffi- 
cient reason must be regarded as an act of in- 
tolerance. Its repeal would do the Protestant 
cause more harm than good, and by irritating 
one section of the Nation against another, the 
national interests would be sacrificed. We 
doubt not Parliament will look upon the pro- 
posal in this light. 

Ecclesiastical Revenues. 
Church Reform — which has been more fully 
explained in our former work, — must be 
planned, not upon the principle of giving as 



126 

little as possible, but of making the Church 
Establishment as perfect as possible. Some 
think that, improve her as we may, the fate of 
the Establishment is sealed. This we do not 
think. One thing is certain, that her future 
stability and prosperity depend on the adop- 
tion of a large and comprehensive measure of 
reform. 

The present emergency supplies a favourable 
opportunity for a radical Reform ; but if a 
Reform of patch-work be substituted, the 
hopes of the enemies of the Church will be 
realized. 

We are of opinion that the Revenues of the 
Church ought to be transferred to the State, 
or to a Central Fund, and that the Clergy 
should in future be paid directly from the Ex- 
chequer, or from such Fund. We would have 
each living valued, and a definite amount as- 
signed to each Incumbency. The object of this 
Reform is to remove questions as to " vested 
rights" and disputes between the Clergyman and 



.127 

his flock as to Tythes and Church Rates. This 
reform may be thought an unnecessary change, 
yet how any adequate Church Reform could 
be effected without it we cannot imagine. 
Many livings must be raised or reduced, and 
this could not be satisfactorily done except 
through some new medium. 

The position of the payers of the Revenues 
has been much altered by the Corn Law Abo- 
lition Act. This supplies another reason why 
the Clergy should cease to receive Tythes. 
But the great advantage of this Reform is that 
the Clergyman could never be involved in dis- 
putes with his flock, and when we remember 
the battle which the Establishment has to en- 
counter, it will be found that too much has not 
been demanded. 

Class Interests, 

The People have as much right to vote for a 
Clergyman as for a Member of Parliament, 
and this right must be conceded. We look for 



12a 

a great increase of Pastoral superintendence 
from this reform, and a consequent increase of 
Godliness among the People. To say that the 
change is undesirable — because the People will 
often differ in their choice — is an objection 
which applies to all popular elections. If the 
objection be valid, the People may be deprived 
of their right to elect members of parliament 
and of town councils. Objections of this de- 
scription may always be traced to interested 
motives, but no intelligent man will be misled 
by such. 

We have heard a great deal about Class 
Legislation, but it occurs to us that the mys- 
tery calls for further explanation before it is 
fully understood. 

The Law gives to the aristocracy a right to 
appoint the Pastors of the Churches. This is a 
notable instance of class legislation. The Law 
of Primogeniture — by which landed Property 
stands upon a different basis from other Pro- 
perty as regards succession, is another in- 



129 

stance of class privileges ; the Law of Entail 
another. 

Class Legislation is an anomaly not easily 
accounted for in a free country like Britain. 
This we shall now explain. 

A tacit compact must be conceived as having 
subsisted between the aristocracy and the 
church. The aristocracy supports the Church 
Establishment on condition that they appoint 
the clergy, and of course the clergy support the 
aristocracy. Such is the only way in which 
we can account for the fact that — in these 
days of freedom and reform — such class pri- 
vileges should exist. 

This compact is happily virtually at an end. 
When the abolition of the Corn Laws took 
place it was avowedly broken. That Act may 
be regarded as the commencement of the 
Second Reformation. All things since that 
great Reform have tended to the reduction of 
class privileges. After that great event, the 
admirers of the close system will find it useless 



130 

to contend against the consequences of that 
act. The Aristocracy has now nothing to gain 
by making sacrifices for the clergy, and the 
clergy have no inducement to support the old 
system, and they no longer consult the wishes 
of the aristocracy. Such are the evidences of 
the coming Reformation, and such the natural 
consequences of the Reforms of 1842 and 1846. 
On the question of Church Patronage, the 
final battle of Class Privileges will be fought. 
Unfair privileges cannot be granted to any in- 
dividual or class without damaging the interests 
of other individuals and classes. Were it not 
for this imperative law of Nature, there could 
be no objection to any amount of class legis- 
lation. The evils entailed on society by class 
privileges are too numerous to be named. 1. Its 
direct effect is to fill the offices of the Church 
and State with men without reference to their 
fitness, hence a prolific cause of inefficient pub- 
lic service. 2. The indirect effect is, that every 
question of reform is judged, not on its own 



131 

merits, but with reference to its bearing on what 
is called the Constitution of Society — but what 
is really the compact between the Church and 
the Aristocracy. To the latter of these causes 
we attribute the unsatisfactory and non-pro- 
gressive state of Public Opinion. We have 
already noticed the impossible condition under 
which Moral Philosophy labours by separat- 
ing Theology from other Science. By this se- 
paration knowledge and civilization are effec- 
tually stereotyped. We have now arrived at 
that point when we may expect to trace the 
reason of this extraordinary state of " Know- 
ledge:' 

Science cannot advance while it is deprived 
of primary facts on which the Intellect may 
act, and we shall now show that the existence 
of class interests is the reason why Theology 
and Science are kept apart. Truth and Justice 
are omnipotent when darkness is withdrawn, 
and when the Intellect of the people is de- 
veloped by the knowledge of true religion 



132 

Class Privileges cannot stand a day. The 
privileged classes have a direct interest in 
keeping Science and Theology apart, for so 
long as they are separate the Truth cannot be 
discovered, and this fact explains the anomaly 
that a separation — involving a serious infringe- 
ment of the rights of the Conscience — should 
have been so long tolerated. 

Let class interests cease, neither the Church 
nor the State will have any inducement to shun 
the Truth, and Science and Religion will no 
longer be called antagonists. The public good 
will then be the object of all good men. Pa- 
triotism will supplant Selfishness. It will then 
be as natural for men in power to seek the 
public good as it once was to consult the in- 
terests of classes. 

Government in this country, prior to the 
adoption of Free Trade and direct Taxation, 
had well nigh extinguished patriotism — the 
prelude to the fall of any nation. The adoption 
of Free Trade has happily restored the days of 



133 

patriotism, and when that which still remains 
of the old system is erased from the Statute 
Book — by reformation of Public Opinion, and 
by the consequent abolition of Class Interests, 
patriotism will become universal, and usher in 
a millennial age. 

Class interests will soon be numbered among 
the things of the past, when it will be found 
that we have not unduly magnified the Evil. 
How can the Established Church be either 
popular or useful while its Clergy are placed 
over the People without their consent ? That 
the People should have submitted to such an 
enormity so long only shows their power of 
endurance under suffering and injustice. To 
obtain the faithful discharge of parochial duties, 
it is necessary that the People should have 
some controul. The ordination of the Bishop 
or Presbytery on the one hand, and the call of 
the People on the other, are the proper checks 
on the election of Pastors. The former pre- 
vents the People from electing an improper 

G 



134 

Person, and the latter secures to the People 
the election of a suitable Pastor. 

Rome is making rapid progress among the 
lower orders, owing to the great mass of the 
People being left like Sheep without a Shep- 
herd ; and the only way to cure this Evil, and 
supply the spiritual wants of the People in an 
adequate manner, is the abolition of private 
Patronage. 

We shall be told that the good which "Class 
legislation" gives overbalances all the evils un- 
avoidably mixed up with it. This is possible, 
and it is for the advocates of class privileges to 
state what this mysterious good is. 

The good said to come from the aristocratic 
principle of government is, that without it go- 
vernment would be impossible. It is easy to 
make assertions of this kind, but when reasons 
are appealed to, their arguments are found to 
be hollow. 

Many are misled by the cry "The Consti- 
tution is in danger." But when such false 



135 

alarms are examined, their origin may be 
traced to interested parties. When the 10/. 
franchise was granted, the end of the Con- 
stitution was come; and when the Burgh Cor- 
porations were opened up, and the election 
placed in the hands of the people, all hope was 
gone. Nothing could be more encouraging 
than the result of these Reforms ; and to them 
and the abolition of the Corn Laws we owe the 
Chartist failure of the 10th of April, 1848. 

Once more we shall hear the cry — "The 
Constitution is in danger"—" The Church is 
in danger;" and again it will be found, that in- 
stead of the Reforms which elicit such fears de- 
stroying the Constitution, they will save it. It 
is not less certain that Truth will excite opposi- 
tion, than that the results will be crowned with 
success ! 

With private interests to maintain, partisans 

may well fear the additional influence which 

Universal Suffrage will give to the popular 

voice. But if it be resolved to grant the just 

g2 



136 

demands of the nation, nothing is to be feared 
from the enfranchisement of the People. 

Disaffection arises mainly from the abuse 
of power, of which class legislation is the 
type; and unless it can be shown that the past 
history of legislation has been free from this 
stain, it is a fallacy to suppose that the insub- 
ordination of the masses will continue. Let 
the sufferings of the People be relieved to the 
full extent which impartial laws would give, 
and the People will have nothing to complain 
of, and Disaffection will give place to Peace 
and Contentment. 

Character and wealth will ever command 
respect, and we doubt not the aristocracy will 
continue to be the party in whom power will 
chiefly be entrusted ; and if universal suffrage 
does not make any appreciable change in the 
present House of Commons, this opinion will 
be confirmed. 

If we desire to grant peace and contentment 
to the people and reduce the standing army, 



137 

we will make the necessary concessions to the 
People. We have heard it stated by men who 
ought to know better, that without an undue 
influence given to the aristocracy, the Crown 
would be in danger, and England must be 
turned into an encampment of troops; but 
when the question is looked into, the reverse is 
the fact. To grant universal suffrage, and for 
ever abjure class legislation, will be to deliver 
the country from Disaffection, when the army 
may be reduced with perfect safety. There is 
no conclusion in this work on which we can 
speak more confidently than the one to which 
we have now come. 

We have now passed in review the leading 
questions of interest, and shall conclude with a 
remark or two on Legislation in general. 

Legislation is a necessary evil. The order of 
Nature being from Error to Truth, legislation 
will be reduced as Civilization advances. The 
Law which governs Right Legislation is obedi- 
ence to the Divine Laws. No Law which in- 



138 

terferes with the Laws of Nature can either be 
just, true or expedient. 

The office of Human Legislation is to protect 
not to repeal the Laws of God. Ignorance and 
selfishness require to be guarded against by- 
legislation so long as Civilization remains un- 
developed, and such is the office of the State. 

The wellbeing and progress of a nation 
mainly depends on two things, viz. Public opi- 
nion and Legislation. Legislation cannot be re- 
formed without a reformation in Public Opinion, 
nor can Public Opinion entirely throw off its 
shackles so long as Class Legislation remains. 
These two facts show the intimate relation 
which Opinion holds to Politics. The one 
cannot make much progress without the other, 
for they never cease to act and react on each 
other. 

Pressure from without acts on Government, 
concessions are made, and Public Opinion is 
relieved of its bondage to the extent of the 
relief given. 



139 

On the other hand, Government cannot le- 
gislate before the age, i. e. they cannot carry- 
unpopular measures however good. 

Government has not only to contend with 
Class Interests provisionally granted, but with 
ignorance and prejudices among the people 
— often the effect of such interests. These re- 
sults show that Reformation is necessarily a 
work of time — for not only is improved Public 
Opinion, but improved Legislation necessary. 



140 



CHAPTEE VI, 
CIVILIZATION—THE PAST. 



I. Ancient Civilization. 

Civilization commenced in Egypt about two 
thousand years before the Christian era. From 
thence it spread to Greece and Rome, and 
obtained its height at the Christian era, or in 
the reign of Csesar Augustus. Liberty, Litera- 
ture, and the Fine iVrts, flourished up to this 
point and then declined. 

Although the history of ancient Civilization 
abounds with instances of Patriotism, which 



141 

would grace any age, yet if we compare even 
the Augustine age with modern times, its infe- 
riority must be acknowledged. No parallel 
can be drawn between the Civilization of the 
first and nineteenth centuries. 

With the single exception of Russia, serfdom 
is now extinct, but the liberty of the Romans, 
even in its best days, amounted to this — that 
themselves free, they took care to allow no 
other nation to be free. Everything gave way 
to the art of War and Oppression. 

Public faith and private morality were in 
their infancy in ancient times, compared with 
modern. Superstition was greater in ancient 
times in proportion as Science was deficient. 
It is true that a large portion of Europe still 
worships Idols as devotedly as in ancient 
times, but this stain cannot be endured much 
longer. 

Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Poetry, 
and the Drama, attained a height in ancient 
times which has never been surpassed. This 
g5 



142 

apparent anomaly is explained, if we remember 
that the picturesque belongs exclusively to un- 
cultivated Nature. Cultivation obliterates the 
pencilings of Nature. Instinct gives way to 
Intelligence, and the face of external Nature is 
changed by the hand of Man. 

These facts indicate that the progress of 
" the Fine Arts" is the opposite of Civilization. 
A certain degree of Civilization seems neces- 
sary to evolve the perfection of Natural Art, 
but when that stage is passed, what we have 
called " Human Art " takes the place of 
Natural Art. History confirms this theory. 

When Science was unknown, the Fine Arts 
attained (in Greece) a perfection never since 
reached. At the dawn of modern Civilization, 
— with Science in a similar state, — the Fine 
Arts again reach a high degree of perfection, 
almost equal to Greek art, and superior to the 
highest efforts of modern genius. 

If the World is to go on to the perfection 
of Civilization, we may expect the " Art of 



143 

Nature" to be absorbed in " Human Art." 
The two arts are different, and in leaving pri- 
mitive Nature, we must look forward to a new 
development of Art. Intelligence absorbs In- 
stinct, on which natural Art chiefly depends. 
The Fine Arts will have a resurrection, but if 
we continue to worship the Past— despise the 
Present, and neglect the cultivation of the 
Future — too much the character of the age — 
the progress of Civilization will be retarded. 

Such was ancient Civilization, which rose 
only to fall. Its rise was rapid and glorious, 
but far too artificial and partial to last. 

Augustus Ceesar stole the liberties of Rome, 
and by a mild Government, which he called 
Liberty, he reconciled a people — long accus- 
tomed to Freedom — to the yoke of Despotism. 

From this change may be dated the decline 
of Ancient Civilization. The progress of the 
World was indefinitely thrown back, and so 
low was the degradation which Civilization 
reached, that at one time the only Literature 



144 

which was either read or taught was the Lives 
of the Saints and Martyrs ! 

The necessities of surrounding Barbarism 
was the immediate cause of the fall of the 
Roman Empire, now enfeebled by four cen- 
turies of Despotic Rule. 

An increasing Population could no longer 
subsist as Shepherds and Hunters. The Ger- 
man races invaded the Eastern and Western 
Empires at all points, and in subjecting Civili- 
zation to an untimely trial — before it had time 
to consolidate and extend its basis — its cities 
were sacked and the precious plant well nigh 
destroyed. We might notice many subordinate 
causes for the fall of the Roman Empire and 
the decline of Civilization, but we know of 
none which may not be resolved into the two 
we have named, viz. the loss of Liberty in the 
reign of the Csesars and the necessities of the 
surrounding World. 



145 



II. Middle-Age Civilization. 

The fusion of the Germans with the Romans 
was not without its fruits, although the product 
was inferior to Ancient Civilization. Middle- 
age Civilization may be described as that state 
of society called the Feudal System — a half 
state between Barbarism and Civilization. 

The result was less brilliant, but much more 
widely diffused than Ancient Civilization, for 
now all Europe was partially civilized. The 
aspect of the Middle Ages— that dreary winter 
of Civilization — was Devotion to what was 
ignorantly supposed to be Religion. 

When the order of progressive Civilizatiou 
has been once ascertained, and Religion de- 
fined, the history of Christianity may be indi- 
cated without difficulty. 

Ignorance, Superstition and Evil precede 
Knowledge, Truth and Good. 

The precepts of Christ being free from error, 
they can only be agreeable to the feelings in 



146 

an advanced state of Civilization. The lower 
the moral condition of a Nation, the greater 
offence will Truth give. If we apply this prin- 
ciple to the past history and future prospects 
of Christianity, we shall find it supported by 
facts. 

The Jewish nation— to which the revelation 
of the Truth was first made — never stood high 
in civilization, and at the period of our Lord's 
advent the state of the Jews was very low. 
Probably not higher than the present state of 
the inhabitants of Syria, and not differing in 
its main characteristics. Then, as now, Judea 
was a conquered country in the hands of a 
people of another religion; then, as now, the 
people were split into various sects, indicating 
a taste for religious contemplation, while ava- 
rice marked their general conduct. 

Suddenly the Truth is announced, and, as 
might have been expected, a storm of indig- 
nation is excited which could not be ap- 
peased without the death of the offender. 



147 

Christianity was greatly in advance of the age 
in which it was first promulgated, accordingly 
it was rejected. A great moral and religious 
Revolution was despised and its author cruci- 
fied, because, as our Lord said, the Truth re- 
buked their evil deeds. Such is the history of 
the rise of Christianity. 

If we now pass over five centuries, we shall 
find this despised Religion of Christ universal ! 

To account for so complete a Revolution in 
public opinion one of two things must have 
happened. Either civilization must in the in- 
terim have made great advances — so that man 
no longer disliked the Truth — or Christianity 
had been so mixed up with error as to be 
brought down to the taste of man. The latter 
process is, unfortunately, the history of early 
Christianity. 

The beautiful and simple doctrines of Christ 
— as set forth in the New Testament — are now 
scarcely discernible in the Belief and Practice 
of the Catholic Church. Simplicity has been 



148 

exchanged for mystery, a practical and true 
Religion is converted into a complex system of 
Doctrines and Religious Services by which men 
may escape practice, and yet persuade them- 
selves that they are religious. 

Nothing but this change could in those days 
have made Christianity popular. Truth, when 
combined with Doctrines which necessarily ex- 
clude Practice, can offend no man. It was in 
consequence of the substitution of Faith for 
Obedience that the cross ceased to be offensive. 
The despised Religion of Christ is so changed 
and corrupted by the Catholics of that period 
as to become popular in connection with a low 
state of morals and civilization. 

When we look to these facts, it does appear 
that Christianity would never have become 
universal without first passing through the 
phases of Superstition, and this is one of the 
few consolations which the dismal history of 
these times affords. Such was the state of 
Christianity in the fifth century, and if we now 



149 

pass over the ten centuries usually called the 
Dark or Middle Ages — in which the Papal 
System was fully matured — it will bring us to 
that period when the downward course of Civi- 
lization was to receive a check by the first Re- 
formation. 

Often had attempts been made to reform the 
errors and abuses of Religion during the long 
night of the Dark Ages, but these strivings of 
the Intellect to recover its liberty were sup- 
pressed by the imprisonment or martyrdom of 
the reformers. 

The memory of WicklifFe is particularly in- 
teresting at the present time from having 
been a professor of Theology at Oxford. In 
that very University where in our day is wit- 
nessed the anomaly of an influential party in 
the Church desiring Reform, and at the same 
time demanding Class privileges to the Clergy 
more dangerous than the abuses from which 
relief is sought. 



150 

III. Modern Civilization. 

Modern Civilization is founded on that of 
the Middle Ages, and in respect that its basis 
is greatly more extended than the Civilization 
of Greece and Rome, modern civilization is less 
artificial and more likely to be permanent. 

Revived Civilization was first visible in the 
fifteenth century. It took its rise in Italy, on 
the very soil where ancient civilization had so 
long flourished. All is now activity. Ancient 
manuscripts are ransacked and translated into 
the modern Languages ; and Knowledge and 
Learning: — the result of many centuries of 
Civilization — so long lost, is restored to an 
astonished World. 

Want and Desire generally produce the 
means of supplying their demands, and it so 
happened that the resurrection of Ancient Lite- 
rature had not long been in progress when the 
invention of Printing was discovered. 

America is discovered, and the Geography 
of the Earth completed. 



151 

The Reformation follows, and delivers the 
fairest portion of Europe from the tyranny of 
Superstition. Such were the glorious events 
which ushered in Modern Civilization. Alas ! 
they promised more than they gave. 

The First Reformation. 

The first Reformer which arose after the 
revival of Literature defied the sword of perse- 
cution, and succeeded in effecting a glorious 
Reformation. When we remember that the 
Church of Rome was now fully developed, that 
it was universal, that Kings and Emperors had 
been completely subdued by it, we may estimate 
the difficulty which Luther had to contend with. 

But the power of the Hierarchy was not the 
greatest difficulty, the prejudices of the People, 
— ever the case with Reformations, — had to be 
combated. The People had been accustomed 
to rely on the efficacy of the personal presence 
of Christ in the Eucharist. That was Luther's 
greatest difficulty, and if he did not fully re- 



152 

form that corruption, perhaps he went as far as 
the then state of Civilization permitted. 

Luther found no difficulty in persuading the 
People that the sale of Indulgences was an 
abuse, but when he demanded that they should 
part with their Idols, we may conceive the oppo- 
sition he would receive. Luther must either 
have braved this opposition or abandoned his 
Reformation, and to his eternal honour be it 
said, he possessed the honesty and courage to 
remain faithful. So great was the difficulty of 
obtaining the People's consent to the Reforma- 
tion, that unless the Reformers had received 
the support of some of the German Princes — 
who were tired of the tyranny of Rome — 
the People would have rejected all the over- 
tures of the Reformer. Luther called on the 
People to examine the Bible and judge of the 
truth of the new Doctrines for themselves; and 
by this means he at last persuaded the People 
to part with their Idols in exchange for Liberty 
of Conscience. 



153 

The Reformers themselves were not free 
from the prejudices of the age, and so universal 
was the prejudice in favour of a religion of 
Belief, it does not appear that it occurred to 
any one to doubt that doctrine. 

The Reformation granted the Right of Pri- 
vate Judgment, and abolished the Idolatry of 
the Mass. These Reforms conferred a degree of 
liberty of Conscience unknown to any previous 
period, and to them the subsequent progress in 
Civilization is mainly owing. 

We now turn to the dark side of the picture. 
The Reformers, instead of boldly renouncing 
the error of trusting in Belief and not in 
Practice — which we have seen arose at a very 
early period— contented themselves with pro- 
nouncing against certain Works of Devotion. 
Belief was retained as the sole ground of 
Salvation, although Personal Righteousness 
was evidently the intention of the Saviour, and 
the only Faith consistent with common sense 
and the improvement of mankind. The error 



154 

of making Belief everything, and the Practice 
of Religion nothing, was fatal to success. 

Such was the Reformation ; it was a step in 
the right direction, but were we to say that it 
went more than half way from Catholicism to 
the unadulterated Truth of Christianity we 
would do violence to our own convictions. 

We now pass to the results of the Reforma- 
tion, embracing a period of three centuries. The 
Reformation accomplished, it might have been 
expected that Christianity would have gone on 
improving until it reached its original purity; 
especially when the world was divided into two 
hostile Churches, ready to expose each other's 
defects. But such alas is not the history of the 
Reformation. 

Religion has made no progress since the ad- 
vent of the Reformation. Its doctrines and its 
errors were unfortunately so fixed that they have 
defied every effort at improvement since. The 
Protestant Creed has long been known to con- 
tain error, but that an imperfect system might 



155 

be kept together, all Churches have tacitly- 
agreed to leave the principles of the Reforma- 
tion untouched, and even unquestioned. Such 
a course could alone be justified on the suppo- 
sition that the Reformers were specially in- 
spired for their work ; but as that is not main- 
tained, it may well cause surprise that their 
work should be held so perfect and so sacred 
as to admit of no improvement. Constant strife 
might have taught the Protestant world that 
the expulsion, and not the retention of Error 
was the only cure for controversy and disunion. 

The history of the World since the Reform- 
ation exactly corresponds with the change in 
Belief then effected. The Reformation accom- 
plished a vast improvement on Belief, but much 
was left unreformed. The creeds of the Lutheran 
and Calvinist Churches present a sad mixture 
of light and darkness, and of the elements of 
good and evil. 

Knowledge and Civilization have made enor- 
mous strides since the Reformation; but with 



156 

all this advancement, there is a want of reality, 
of unity, and of consolidation. Knowledge 
remains undefined and incomplete, and its fur- 
ther progress impossible without another Refor- 
mation. Peace and prosperity may be said to 
have blessed many lands since the Reforma- 
tion, yet with much good, strife and war have 
been mingled. These results — mixed as they 
are with Good and Evil— are precisely what 
was to be expected from an imperfect Reforma- 
tion. 

The evil of half measures was never more 
conspicuous than in the history of the Reforma- 
tion. The Reformation divided Christendom 
into two hostile parties, without offering any rea- 
sonable hope of union; it exposed the errors 
of the Church, without offering the means of 
healing them. Further, the contradictory creed 
of the Reformation caused the Protestants to 
split in two hostile sects — the Lutheran and 
Calvinist. The endless dissensions arising 
from Religious Controversy issued in the re- 



157 

vival of Catholicism, and the desolation of 
Europe by War. With Protestantism divided 
against itself, the Church of Rome speedily 
reconquered a large portion of its dominions. 
Austria at one time was three-fourths Pro- 
testant; now three-fourths of its inhabitants 
are Catholics. In France and other countries 
a similar re-action took place. We are parti- 
cular in marking these sad effects of half mea- 
sures, that a similar error may be avoided in 
any future Reformation. 

After a struggle of three hundred years, the 
World seems as far from Peace and Happiness 
as ever. So keenly is this felt, that men are 
apt to ask whether Civilization, such as it is, 
or " the good old times," (middle-age civiliza- 
tion) is best. 

The World yearns after something which 
Civilization and Religion have failed to give : 
and when the history of modern times is stu- 
died, we cannot be surprised that this feeling 
of discontent should be universal. Everywhere 



158 

men begin to ask if Luther's Reformation was 
necessarily final, or may they look for another! 

The necessities of an increasing Population 
have outgrown the spirit of its governments, and 
these natural means of Reformation are the im- 
mediate causes of the present crisis. 

If Governments persist in refusing the just 
demand of the People, and if the People are 
unable to conquer their own liberty, either by 
a Moral or a Civil Revolution, the World must 
retrace its steps. Once more we must expect 
to see Despotism both civil and religious as 
triumphant as it was in the ninth century under 
the universal empire of Charlemagne and the 
Papacy. 

In that sad event the Augustine Age of 
Modern Civilization has come, and the result of 
the Revolution or Reformation through which 
the World is now passing, will determine the 
question whether the present Crisis is to be 
followed by a perfected Civilization, or by a 
series of ages in which Darkness and Depo- 



159 

pulation shall mark the future history of an 
unhappy World. 

The World calls for a Second Reformation, 
of which the Revolutions of 1848 are the ex- 
pression. With the Free Press of England to 
disseminate the principles of a salutary Re- 
formation, there is hope that the convulsions 
now agitating the world may be calmed down 
and directed to the great work of a general 
Reformation. 



ii 



160 



CHAPTEE VII. 
THE PRESENT STATE OF EUROPE. 



The prevalence of good or evil depends on the 
state of Knowledge and Belief. And if a re- 
medy for War and Revolution be desired, we 
must strike at the root of the evil by correcting 
the errors of Public Belief. A Reformation in 
Religious Belief and in Public Opinion is ulti- 
mately the only cure for the disasters which 
have overtaken the world. 

Superstition and Error are at present taught 
by public institutions. Let this source of Evil 



161 

be corrected and the usurpation of the despot 
will cease. Correct Knowledge is the only- 
permanent bulwark of liberty. Although 
Europe was reformed civilly, yet if Public 
Opinion remains debased by superstition and 
error, Liberty cannot be permanent. It is 
therefore more by the spread of Knowledge, 
than by the use of arms, that permanent and 
complete emancipation can be effected. 

Our friends on the Continent are aware that 
the whole policy of the Roman Hierarchy has 
ever been opposed to liberty, and that it is 
mainly to that power that the despotic Powers 
have been enabled to keep the people down. 
Civil slavery is hard to bear ; but the slavery 
of the Conscience is worse. Because moral 
slavery is less felt, it is not on that account 
less destructive of peace and prosperity. 

In these circumstances we call on the friends 
of Liberty not to confine their efforts to the 
destruction of Civil Despotism, but at the same 
time to destroy Spiritual Despotism. The one 



162 

cannot be removed without at the same time 
conquering the other. We are too apt to 
think that Public Opinion is nothing, and 
that Bayonets are everything. Public Opinion 
influences and ultimately rules the exercise of 
the civil power. Knowledge leads to the union 
of the people in behalf of their natural Rights. 
The advocates of Despotism know this, nor are 
they slow to suppress the liberty of the Press, 
and load the churches with images that Super- 
stition may maintain its hold over the con- 
science. 

Superstition and Oppression must stand or 
fall together. 

Our Catholic Brethren must demand an im- 
mediate reformation of their Church, if they 
wish to be free-men. The Clergy must demand 
the abolition of the unnatural, immoral, and 
unscriptural law of celibacy. Let obedience 
to Truth be preferred to mere worship and 
devotion, — which are not Christianity. Evil 
and Sin come from Ignorance and preferring 



163 

the Religion of the Feelings to the Religion 
of the Understanding. The Religion of mere 
Feeling debases the Intellect ; it fosters Igno- 
rance, and retards the progress of civilization 
and liberty. The system in which Men are 
educated often holds them in bondage against 
their will, and the influence of habit and 
feeling often triumphs over their better reason; 
but if the Catholics will be guided by the 
Truth as it is in Jesus, it shall make them free. 
The Catholic Church has gone through many 
changes — at times she has reformed herself and 
risen from the lowest depths of degradation, 
at other times the tendency has been down- 
wards. At present a favourable opportunity 
occurs for a great Reformation in the Catholic 
Church, which shall astound the World. Let 
the Clergy and Laity vie with each other in 
the holy work of Reformation, and the result 
will be universal good and harmony. Why 
should there be Protestants and Catholics; 
do not both serve one Master? Let both 



164 

be reformed. Let Protestants and Catholics 
forget the errors of the past, and in meeting 
on the neutral ground of Truth both will make 
concessions, not to Man but to God. 

The images which disfigure the Churches 
and roadsides must be torn down. If the 
Bible — which denounces Image Worship — be 
freely circulated among the people — the wor- 
ship of the host, or any other than God, will 
cease. Carry back the thoughts to ancient 
Greece and Rome. See the altars raised to 
Gods represented by images of wood and stone, 
and you — like St. Paul — will be moved to see 
the ignorance of that superstitious age. Then 
look at the Ignorance of the nineteenth cen- 
tury manifested in dumb idols everywhere 
meeting the eye. These Images you are told 
to adore as representations of Gods and Saints. 
This was precisely the doctrine of Paganism ; 
and while a People is devoted to Idols there 
can be no freedom. 



165 

In nothing does England show her supe- 
riority over the Continent more than in the 
absence of images : from Penzance to John 
O'Groats no Image offends the piety of the 
traveller. Even in Mahometan countries no 
such Ignorance disgraces their religion. It 
is painful to dwell on the weak points of 
humanity; and we hope we have said enough 
to call the attention of Catholics to the great 
subject of Church Reform. 

To the Protestants we say, re-echo the call of 
England for a reformation of Religion. Know 
that your disunion is the strength of Rome : 
adopt then a test of Truth, and be united. 
Remove from your several creeds obsolete doc- 
trines, which have no other effect than to keep 
Protestants apart from each other, while they 
strengthen the reign of superstition and scep- 
ticism. England calls upon you to join her 
in a united effort to reform all Churches, and 
put an end to the reign of Ignorance, Error 
and Suffering. 

h5 



166 

To the friends of liberty at home and abroad 
we say, no longer confine your attention to 
civil revolutions, but go to the root of the evil, 
and, while you do not neglect the physical 
defences of society, remember that, unless 
public opinion is improved and maintained in 
a healthy state, it will defeat the best plans of 
Reform that can be formed. 

We now turn to the civil and financial affairs 
of Europe, and if we examine the position and 
prospects of France and Germany the general 
state of Europe will be indicated. With this 
object in view we shall commence with 

France. 

The power which the French Nation has 
placed in the hands of Prince Louis Napoleon 
is that of a Dictator. He has been empowered 
to dictate a Constitution to France. This 
power is unconditional, but not irresponsible. 
The Elected must give an account of his 
stewardship to the Electors ; and, we may add, 



167 

if Napoleon legislates contrary to the will of 
France, his reign will be short. While Uni- 
versal Suffrage is maintained, the Government 
is to some extent Free, for the President and 
the House of Representatives are elected by 
the People. If the President legislates so as 
give an independent voice to the Legislative 
Assembly, he will do great service to France; 
but if his " Constitution" is that of a despotic 
ruler, it will not be permanent. 

The New Constitution has appeared, and we 
need not say how deeply its contents have 
affected us. We had hoped for something 
better, and with every desire to excuse the late 
proceedings of the President on the plea of 
necessity, there is no longer any doubt that 
Napoleon's policy is favourable to despotism. 
The Constitution bears all the marks of a 
despotic power, and we trust France will soon 
awake from its apathy and abolish a form of 
Government which can only be classed with 
that of Russia and Austria. 



168 

The Distribution of the Soil has much to 
do with the welfare of a Nation. A grievous 
error has been committed here both in France 
and England. 

The French Law is the opposite of the 
English. The law of France puts nothing in 
the power of the possessor except liberty of 
sale during lifetime. At the death of a pro- 
prietor the Law steps in and divides all equally 
among his children. 

The Error in England in maintaining the 
Laws of Entail and Primogeniture has cost 
her much, but that of France is probably no 
less injurious to the general interests of a 
Nation. If France would alter her Law of 
succession, so as to give Landlords the free- 
dom of willing away their Property to whom 
they please, and England change her Law so 
that the Eldest Son would carry no advantage 
over the other members of the family, the 
extremes of a redundant Proprietary in France 



169 

and a deficient one in England would be 
avoided. 

The position of a landlord makes him 
jealous of change; and when this position 
is coupled with ignorance — generally the case 
with peasant -proprietors — a salutary Con- 
servatism is apt to run into selfishness 
(Ultra -Toryism). This evil is especially to 
be dreaded after repeated attempts to reform 
the constitution in favour of liberty have 
failed, and the burdens of a suffering Pro- 
prietory and Peasantry have from that cause 
been increased. 

We need scarcely say that selfishness is 
preferring the good of ourselves when that is 
opposed to the Public Good. It is the op- 
posite of Patriotism. 

The repeated failures of Republics offer 
strong temptations to the landlords of France 
to become traitors to the cause of Liberty ; 
and if that class — in number five millions — 



170 

takes such a step, the prospects of the world 
are dark. 

This danger— of the National Will becoming 
traitorous to its own liberty — has been com- 
pletely overcome in England — not by the 
maintenance of the Laws of Entail and Pri- 
mogeniture — but by the triumph of Free-trade 
principles. 

England was saved by the efforts of a single 
patriot. And in pronouncing the name of Sir 
Robert Peel we speak to the heart of every 
friend of humanity. By the imposition of an 
Income Tax and the abolition of the Tax on 
Corn and other necessaries of life, the privi- 
leges of the rich were broken down and the 
burden of taxation spread more equally. In 
short, Sir Robert Peel's measures took from 
the rich and gave to the poor. 

The influence of Rome will be used to stop 
a similar movement in France, and until some 
improvement can be made in public opinion 
on religious as well as political questions, it is 



171 

to be feared that success in the cause of liberty 
and justice must be partial and insecure. 

England and France stand at the head of 
the Civilized World, and the only fear that 
they — the natural guardians of Liberty — 
should allow the decay of Civilization, is 
that they are divided on the subject of Reli- 
gion. If France and England had both been 
reformed, there would have been no danger; 
but so long as hostile Faiths govern the two 
Nations, there can be no permanent union, 
and when divided their power is neutralized. 

Another Reformation is the only remedy for 
this evil. The spirit of that movement is not 
that of party, but of principle. No man is 
asked to change his Church or his Religion. 
The Protestant is not asked to become a Ca- 
tholic, nor the Catholic a Protestant, but both 
are called upon to examine their Faith, and 
conform their Belief to the principles of Truth. 
If the liberal Press of England and France 
advocate this remedy for English and French 



172 

disunion, a permanent basis of union will be 
found. 

If Napoleon's Government harmonizes with 
the Despotic Governments of Europe, a new 
feature in Modern Civilization is evolved, 
for who ever heard of thirty millions of 
Despots? This is taking the worst possible 
view of the case ; but looking to the state 
of Public Opinion in France, we cannot say 
that such a blow is impossible. Although 
unheard of in modern times, such a result 
is not unknown to Ancient History. The 
annihilation of Liberty in the reign of Au- 
gustus was of that description ; and if we 
look to the sad results of that usurpation, 
it is not unreasonable to fear that the 
despotism of France may bring on retro- 
gression in Civilization throughout the world. 

The present crisis may well make the faith 
of the stoutest heart tremble, but amidst all 
the gloom we have hope. 



173 

We trust Napoleon will yet prefer the good 
of the world to the gratification of private 
ambition, whenever these two principles come 
into collision. He can introduce changes 
which shall improve the state of the nation, 
and a beneficial change in public opinion will 
follow. 

Such is the position of France at this impor- 
tant epoch of her history; and, in now con- 
sidering her future policy, we shall first state 
the causes of her present prostrate condition. 

The peculiar evils of France are those con- 
nected with industry and finance. The 
expensive and prolonged reign of Louis the 
Fourteenth involved the nation in difficulties 
from which she never escaped. Her pecuniary 
embarrassments gave occasion to the break- 
ing out of the first Revolution ; and the " do- 
nothing" government of Louis Phillipe prepared 
the way for the present crisis. 

The whole Financial and Industrial affairs of 
France call for revision. 



174 

The first Napoleon immortalized his name by 
abolishing the old laws of France and substi- 
tuting the famous "Code Napoleon" in their 
stead. If his Nephew follows so noble an 
example, by taking a similar step in regard to 
Taxation, — this alone would reconcile Europe 
to the temporary cessation of Liberty in France; 
and unless Napoleon can gain the good opi- 
nion of the World by conferring an extra- 
ordinary boon, such as Universal Free Trade, 
his name must go down to posterity without a 
single redeeming quality. 

The taxes are at present levied directly on 
Trades, and indirectly on the necessaries and 
luxuries of life and on Imports, for the double 
purpose of Protection and Revenue. 

An Income and Property Tax is the natural 
cure for all the disorders which afflict unhappy 
France. Her present system has not only 
brought her to the brink of ruin, but, if the evil 
is not immediately corrected, there is imminent 
danger that France will be tempted, in a fit 



175 

of despair, to sell her liberty — it may be the 
liberty of Europe — for a bit of Bread. 

An Income Tax of ten per cent, would enable 
the President to abolish all other Taxes. This 
high rate of Income Tax would admit of re- 
duction when the evil effects of the Protective 
system were removed. As the income of the 
nation increased by means of Free Trade, the 
Revenue would be spread over a large amount. 
In this way a considerable reduction of Income 
Tax might be calculated on after a few years. 
The People would not object to pay ten per 
cent., and although that would be insufficient 
at first, very soon the Revenue from that 
source would equal the expenditure. 

To effect so great a financial Revolution, the 
Government must provide itself with an ade- 
quate loan to cover any deficiency that may 
naturally be expected to accompany so vast 
a change in the first instance. A loan of ten 
or twenty millions for such a purpose would 



176 

not only be obtained without difficulty, but it 
would have the effect of raising the value of 
all Public Securities. Capitalists would freely 
lend their money for carrying out a financial 
arrangement which any man of common pene- 
tration would see to be one of large promise. 

If the President has the Good of France at 
heart, he will effect a comprehensive change of 
Taxation. Its success would be such as to 
raise France to a pitch of greatness unknown 
in the history of Nations. 

The Taxes on Foreign Cottons, Woollens 
and Linens enhance the price of these articles 
so much that these necessaries of Life are sold 
to the French public at one-third higher prices 
than there is any occasion for. The Tax on 
Foreign Iron is 150 per cent. This enormous 
Tax is maintained for the benefit of a handful 
of manufacturers. The cost of implements, 
machinery, and many articles of Household 
furniture is trebled, and the Public of France 
is taxed to that amount. 



177 

The suffering arising from these causes is 
incalculable. Suppose the direct loss to be 
only twenty millions sterling annually, we may 
form some idea of its effect. Were the People 
allowed to retain these twenty millions, that 
large sum would be laid out on productive 
works, and the industry of the Nation would 
receive immediate relief. 

Free trade would double the trade of France. 
The cost of living would be lessened. The 
burdens of Landlord, Trader, Artizan and Pea- 
sant relieved. France is saved, and induce- 
ments to political apostacy removed. 

No Nation has shown such aversion to free 
trade as France, although none stand in such 
need of its blessings. 

There is an impression abroad that France 
and Germany are in advance of England in 
Civilization. Never was there a greater mis- 
take. The superiority of France and Germany 
is in Learning, not in Knowledge and Intel- 
ligence. Knowledge comes from Experience, 



178 

which Learning may interpret, but cannot give. 
That England occupies the first rank in the 
family of Nations, the fact that she alone acts 
upon the self-denying principle of Free Trade 
is an unquestionable proof. 

Universal Free Trade is destined more than 
any thing else to deliver the World from every 
form of Despotism, and when a new impulse is 
given to the Free Trade movement by its final 
triumph in England, we cannot doubt that 
Free Trade will soon become general over the 
whole World. It is the pioneer of Moral 
Reformation. 

Germany. 

These observations on Free Trade and Tax- 
ation in France will apply generally to other 
Nations, and in now proceeding to notice 
the affairs of Germany, it will be sufficient if 
we confine our attention to the relations of 
Germany with other States and of European 
Politics in general. 

Had the late rising in Hungary and Italy 



179 

been successful, Europe would now have been 
enjoying relief from the iron rule of Russia and 
Austria. The first act in that noble struggle 
has ended in failure, and Liberty is gone. The 
burdens of the People have been doubled since 
1848, and the yoke of slavery is more hope- 
lessly galling than ever. The state of France 
is deplorable, but Germany, Italy and Hungary 
are even worse. 

The Kings of Germany have thrown off the 
mask, and their late despotic acts have has- 
tened the crisis. They have resolved to trust 
their fate to the power of the sword, regardless 
of the rights of the People. That the Diet of 
the German States should dare to sit in Frank- 
fort with closed doors, and deliberately rob the 
People of their rights, is so intolerable, that the 
Sovereigns have united all Germany against 
themselves as one man. If the Diet would 
only take a dispassionate view of the matter — 
such as was represented to them by the King 
of Wurtemburg — war might yet be averted. 



180 

Germany has resolved that the present state 
of things shall not continue. It is no longer a 
question of what is best to be done. If the 
People differ on questions of policy, they are at 
last united in this, that they shall not remain 
Slaves. 

Our continental neighbours have discovered 
that the world was not made for kings, — that 
a king is such only for the sake of the people. 
To hold that a king is more than the chief 
magistrate of the state is the way to encourage 
the abuse of power, of which insubordination is 
the consequence. All Error must produce Evil, 
and such is the Evil which flows from the doc- 
trine of " Divine Right." When we look to 
the abuses of regal Governments of Europe, we 
cannot wonder that opinions favourable to Re- 
publicanism have gained ground. 

A considerable section of the Liberal Party 
have committed a great error in advocating 
the Republican form of Government in the 
present state of Civilization. Such is evidently 



181 

a Government only suitable to a much higher 
state of Civilization than Europe can expect 
to reach for generations to come. Evil arising 
from abused power does not prove any system 
wrong; and when we see the working of a 
Limited Monarchy — such as that of England 
compared with Republics — it ought to teach 
the World that the reformation, and not the 
destruction of kingdoms, ought to be the aim 
of Europe. 

The English Constitution owes its stability 
and efficiency to two principles. These are — 

1st. The Executive is responsible to Parlia- 
ment for the exercise of the Royal Prero- 
gative. 

2nd. The annual consent of the House of 
Commons is required before the national 
Purse can be touched. 

These have been found effectual checks on 
the abuse of Power, and it is highly probable 
that no human institution can offer greater se- 
curity. One thing is certain ; they offer greater 

i 



182 

checks to private ambition than the most per- 
fect Republican Constitution we ever heard of. 

Such is the British Constitution, — a scheme 
which is the result of experience, and which 
has triumphed over every difficulty. 

If similar checks were adopted by the nations 
now struggling for Liberty, there would be no 
occasion for new schemes, which usually defeat 
the object for which they were intended. Let 
Ministers of the Crown be responsible to Par- 
liament, and let the supplies be voted by the 
Commons annually, and the effect will be that 
the Crown will not invade the rights of the 
People, nor the People seek to trench on the 
prerogative of the Crown. 

A Republic succeeds in America, but a new 
state of society organized from the first upon 
a new system forms no criterion for an old 
World. Republics have been repeatedly tried 
as substitutes for the kingly rule in Europe, 
and in every case they have been miserable 
failures ; and if the impending strife is to end in 



183 

liberty, we must begin by dismissing from our 
minds all idea of engrafting Republicanism on 
nations accustomed to Royalty. 

Without a King, private ambition has been 
found to overrule Patriotism. We have had a 
notable example of this in the late abortive ex- 
periment of a Republic in France. Instead of 
the Members of Assembly devoting them- 
selves to beneficial Reforms, their attention was 
turned to private disputes and private interests. 
When a man cannot rise by legitimate means, 
he pulls down his neighbour, regardless of the 
evil effects of his malignity. In this way the 
welfare of France has been sacrificed on the 
altar of private interest. 

A Nation which elects its King is a close 
approximation to a Republic. Poland is al- 
most the only Kingdom blotted out of the 
map of Nations. Unlike the other Nations, 
she persisted in electing her King, which gave 
rise to private ambition, and caused her fall. 

i2 



184 

This result goes far to show that Republics 
are not calculated to thrive on European soil. 

The only check on private ambition is the 
Crown; and until selfishness be subdued by 
an improved state of civilization, destruction 
may be expected to follow the Republican form 
of Government. Such is the office of the 
Crown; and in pleading the cause of Royalty, 
W2 do so because it is the cause of Liberty. 

The aim of Russia and Rome — the two great 
Powers on the side of despotism — is Universal 
Empire, and such is obviously incompatible 
with liberty. The division of supreme power 
by the numerous independent states of Europe 
is the only guarantee against the abuse of 
power, and the more that independence is 
limited by the preponderating influence of 
Russia and Rome, the greater is the decline of 
liberty. 

The passes of the Balkins are in the hands of 
the Russians; Austria is little better than a de- 
pendency of Russia ; and Rome — the organized 



185 

engine for controlling the rights of Conscience- 
supports the usurpation of both. Lord John 
Russell speaks of a conspiracy against Euro- 
pean Liberty j and when we look at the attitude 
of Russia controlling every court in continental 
Europe, and at Rome putting forth her arts for 
the suppression of the liberty of Conscience 
even in England and America, it is evident that 
the powers of despotism are mustering their 
forces upon a gigantic scale for the final 
struggle. It is sufficient to name these facts to 
show how near the accomplishment of a Uni- 
versal Empire may be. 

The state of the contending parties is now 
very different from that of 1848. With a com- 
paratively small military force to contend with, 
the People have been everywhere beaten ; and 
how they are to succeed now, with the odds 
doubled against them, is a problem well worthy 
of consideration. 

That portion of the Revolution which belongs 
to the past presents a series of unsuccessful 



186 

attempts by the People to resist the military. 
Looking to the unsuccessful issue of these 
struggles, we apprehend the conflict must no 
longer be the People against the Military, but 
of troops with troops, if a different result is to 
be expected. 

Soldiers are men, and when they have the 
opportunity they will follow their convictions, 
and take the side of Liberty and Justice. It is 
only on the field of battle that they can change 
masters; and when this opportunity is afforded 
to the troops of Germany and Italy, we may 
look for a favourable change. To afford this 
opportunity — in the event of War — must be the 
aim of the friends of Liberty. 

Every true Englishman must feel for the 
suffering of our brethren on the Continent. 
Our sympathies and advice shall cheer them 
on in the holy cause of liberty. We shall take 
the initiative in a great moral Revolution, — 
no less necessary than a civil Revolution. 



187 

And in proclaiming the advent of a second 
Reformation — the great want of the present 
age — the grand obstacle to Liberty will be 
removed— the Papal system, which unites and 
maintains European despotism, is abolished. 



188 



CHAPTBE VIII, 
THE GENERAL REVOLUTION. 



Although the European Revolution, — which 
lasted from 1789 to 1815, — conferred unde- 
niable benefits, its history is so stained with 
error and bloodshed, that the blood runs cold 
to contemplate another. We believe such 
another Revolution has again visited the 
World. 

That convulsion of the Human Mind through 
which the World is now passing presents all the 
phenomena of a general Revolution even more 
deeply rooted and more widely spread than any 



189 

of its predecessors. Compare the state of 
Europe, when Napoleon's Revolution broke out, 
with its present state, and the serious nature of 
the present crisis will be apparent. In the case 
of Napoleon's war, many of the Nations were 
engaged in warfare against their will, but now 
every nation in Europe has taken the initiative 
in the Revolution. The impending War will 
accordingly find the population of every coun- 
try prepared to take a side, and — with passions 
excited by past discomfiture — the struggle must 
be dreadful. 

If at the outbreak of the Revolution of 1789 
a definite and proper object had been given to 
the movement by the spread of correct in- 
formation, the result would have been very dif- 
ferent. It, like the present Revolution, might 
have taken the direction of a Reformation, 
and, instead of desolating Europe, it would 
have delivered it from oppression. It is well 
to discuss at this early period the extent of the 
impending changes, for to be forewarned is to 
i5 



190 

be forearmed. We shall begin the inquiry by- 
stating the leading features and probable result 
of a general war, and conclude by showing 
how that evil may be prevented, and universal 
Peace restored. 

If Italy, Poland and Hungary were erected 
into independent kingdoms, the German diffi- 
culty would be easily settled ; for until there 
be some solution of that problem there can be 
no Peace. 

A Confederation of independent States must 
ever be an empty name, and prolific of more 
evil than good ; we should therefore say, that 
all ideas of reviving the German Confederation 
in any possible shape should be given up. 
The past history of the German confederation 
amply confirms this conclusion. It has kept 
Europe in almost constant strife for many cen- 
turies, and until it be abolished there can be no 
guarantee of Peace. 

That the German race should govern the 
Italians in their own country, and against their 



191 

will, is intolerable and unjust. The first thing 
to be done is to drive the Germans out of Italy. 
The two races have been at war for fourteen 
hundred years, and nothing but separation can 
give Peace to either, 

Merely to proclaim the independence of 
Italy, and not put her in a position to govern 
herself, would be cruel. To allow her to be 
broken up into petty states, as in the six- 
teenth century, is not to be tolerated. That 
would be ruinous to her peace, and Europe 
would be constantly disturbed by her dissen- 
sions. In these circumstances we know of no 
other remedy than to erect the entire Penin- 
sula into a United Kingdom, and select one 
of her Sovereigns for her King. The King 
of Sardinia appears to have the best claim to 
this ; and if the votes of the Italian States 
were favourable, there can be no objections to 
such a choice. Italy would become a powerful 
nation ; from the Alps to Palermo, and from 
Genoa to Venice, she would be united. Blessed 



192 

in her climate and in her race, modern Italy 
would soon arise from her ashes, and rival the 
glory of her ancestors, — not in the art of war 
and oppression, but of peace. 

The demand of Hungary is to have a King 
of her own. She, like Italy, will not have the 
Germans to reign over her. The justice of this 
demand is undeniable, and the peace of Europe 
demands its concession. To release the inde- 
pendent Provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia 
from the influence of the Russian and Turkish 
powers is very desirable, and it would serve 
the cause of Liberty if these provinces could 
be united with Hungary. 

The ancient Kingdom of Poland must like- 
wise be delivered from the rule of the Stranger, 
and erected into a hereditary Kingdom. 

The settlement of the German Question in 
the present position of Europe is obviously 
impossible. The People desire Union— a de- 
mand which the Kings cannot grant con- 
sistently with the maintenance of their own 



193 

Power. But when the non-German States 
have been taken from Germany by the esta- 
blishment of Italy, Poland and Hungary as 
independent States, the major difficulty to a 
united Germany will be obviated. 

All the States of Germany must either be 
thrown into one, or Prussia and Austria must 
be united, and the minor States remain as they 
are. Either of these alternatives would effect 
the end desired. The latter, we think, the 
preferable one, because excessive centralization 
is ever to be avoided. 

The drawback to German Union will be 
ended when the rivalship between Austria and 
Prussia ceases by the union of these States. 
In that case the Minor States would have 
no more influence than Belgium or Holland, 
nor could their independence disturb the peace 
and unity of the future Kingdom of Germany. 

Supposing it be resolved to adopt such a 
course, the question arises how Austria and 
Prussia are to be united, and who is to be the 



194 

King of regenerated Germany ? It would be 
for the Germans themselves to decide the 
question. The King of Prussia being more 
popular with the Germans than the Emperor, 
the election would probably be favourable to 
the House of Brandenburg. With such a re- 
sult — when the peace of Europe depended on 
the House of Hapsburg renouncing its claim 
to the crown of Austria — we cannot doubt 
the Emperor would listen to any reasonable 
proposal. The People of Hungary would pro- 
bably invite the Ex-Emperor to become their 
actual King and Governor ; but if this could 
not be, then Italy might be given to the Em- 
peror and Hungary to the King of Sardinia. 

Europe has been accustomed to rely on a 
balance of power based on treaties. If such 
a balance ever existed, that is now gone ; and 
it is high time that something more stable 
were looked to as the basis of Peace. When 
the Congress of Nations met at Vienna to 
settle the affairs of Europe in 1815, Germany 



195 

had made no demand for Union, neither were 
Hungary and Lombardy clamorous for inde- 
pendence; but when the next settlement of 
Nations takes place, those demands must be 
met, and nothing but an uncompromising de- 
mand for justice between Nation and Nation, 
on the part of the Liberal powers, can give 
peace to Europe. 

Care must be taken to prevent anything ap- 
proaching to a Universal Empire, either Moral 
or Civil; and after the lesson England lately 
received from Rome, our Government would be 
inexcusable if it did not insist on the claim of 
the Bishop of Rome to jurisdiction beyond his 
own Diocese being formally renounced. 

Not to disturb the general peace, England 
must in the meantime be satisfied with a pro- 
test against the late Aggression; but in the 
event of War, the honour and independence of 
England demand that the Papal Bull of 1850 
be recalled; and any future aggression on 
England, or on any of the powers of Europe, 



196 

be recognized as a violation of the Articles of 
Peace, and opposed to the Law of Nations. 

The great desideratum of Diplomacy is a de- 
finite aim, based on the recognition of great 
principles. We do not say that any govern- 
ment could pledge itself to any particular course 
of action, but the general policy of government 
ought to admit of no change. 

War. 

We shall now trace the probable course of 
Events, should an appeal to arms be inevitable. 

As it is impossible to say what side France 
may take, we must contemplate the struggle, 
first, with France against, and second, with 
France for us. On the one side we shall place 
the Nations devoted to Liberty, both civil and 
religious; on the other, the Nations accustomed 
to despotic rule and the tyranny of super- 
stition. With the exception of France — which 
holds a doubtful position — any other arrange- 
ment of contending Nations would be unna- 



197 

tural, and therefore not likely to be perma- 
nent. 

I. Prussia, Britain and America against 
France, Russia, Austria and Rome. 

Prussia and her continental Allies would 
conduct the campaigns of the Rhine, where 
the disaffected population of Germany would 
join the standard of Liberty. 

America and England would throw troops 
and military stores into Italy and Hungary, 
to enable the Italians, Hungarians and Poles 
to rise " en masse." And the Anglo-American 
Fleet would sweep the seas. 

A European War, under these auspices, 
would be dreadful. But so long as the Church 
of Rome governs the policy of France, we fear 
the arms of that People will be turned against 
Liberty. The more we look into the subject 
the more clearly does it appear, that the only 
way to avert war, and in particular war with 
France, is the immediate adoption of a moral 
revolution by England. 



198 

II. France, Prussia, England and America 
against Russia and Austria. 

If the French take the side of Liberty, it will 
probably be in consequence of the rise of a 
second Napoleon opposed to the interests of Rome 
and of despotism. Let us examine such a result. 

A military dictatorship is at all times a des- 
perate remedy; but after the usual means of 
Revolution have been exhausted, there may be 
no alternative. The rule of a popular dictator 
is certainly better than anarchy on the one 
hand, and avowed despotism on the other. 
A dictator can maintain his power only by 
popularity, and to be popular he must relieve 
the burdens of the People. Such is the gua- 
rantee against the abuse of dictatorial power, 
and we believe it is one practically greater 
than generally supposed. A dictatorship re- 
peatedly saved the existence of the Roman 
Republic in cases not less desperate than that 
which has now overtaken Europe, and in 
every case the remedy was successful. 



199 

The cause of European Liberty is not entirely- 
desperate, but its state is such that any day a 
second Napoleon may arise, and we doubt not 
the appearance of a military Dictator pledged 
to the annihilation of European Despotism, 
Injustice, and Oppression, would generally be 
popular. 

The field has only to be taken by the legions 
of France or Prussia — devoted to the cause of 
universal liberty and justice — to insure success. 
No power could offer any resistance to such a 
movement but Russia ; and when that Power 
saw the Italian and German troops taking the 
side of Liberty, she would retire to her Steppes. 
If France decides in favour of Liberty, the war 
of European freedom may safely be confided to 
her care; for with the assistance of the dis- 
affected Populace she would speedily overrun 
all Europe, and give Peace to the World. 

Such are the prospects of Europe in the 
event of War. With France on the side of 
Liberty the struggle will be short, and the 



200 

triumph of Right over Might complete; but 
with France among the despotic powers, the 
struggle will be tedious and the result probably 
undecisive. 

As was the case with the former Revolution, 
England will be slow to involve itself in War ; 
but as we cannot conceive a European War 
without being ourselves drawn into the vortex, 
we must not natter ourselves that we can long 
maintain a position of neutrality. The Treaty 
of Vienna will eventually be broken, and when 
we shall see the abettors of despotism using the 
opportunity of riveting the chains of Europe to 
the utmost, it would be suicidal madness to re- 
main idle spectators. 

We fear that, sooner or later, we shall be 
obliged to declare war against Russia and 
Austria, for the policy of these powers is di- 
rectly opposed to our interests. In that event, 
we trust both France and America will join us, 
and with that coalition the emancipation of 
Europe will not be doubtful. 



201 



Peace. 

It is easy to get into war, but who can say- 
when or where it may end ? If France was 
either neutral or hostile, the contending Parties 
would be so equally balanced, that after a ten 
years' fight, the cause of Liberty might be as 
hopeless as ever. 

In these circumstances we would strongly 
recommend our friends on the Continent to 
propose a compromise. The interests of the 
People and that of their sovereigns are ulti- 
mately one. If both Parties would consent to 
the necessary concessions, the causes of War 
and Revolutions would cease. 

Compromise implies that each party shall 
give up part of what they respectively imagine 
their Rights ; and upon that principle we shall 
indicate what appears to us might be made 
the basis of a settlement. 

I. Universal Free Trade and Direct Taxa- 
tion. — This concession would give immediate 



202 

and universal relief to the People. The Direct 
Tax would in no case exceed eight per cent., 
and very soon half that amount would suffice. 

II. A General Disarmament. — The Army to 
be reduced to one-half its present number, and 
after ten years a further disarmament to be 
effected to the extent of one-half more. 

The reduction of the Army is a guarantee 
that feelings hostile to the public interests have 
ceased to animate the Government, and with- 
out the saving thereby effected, the Income Tax 
would be oppressively high. Free Trade must, 
for these reasons, be coupled with a reduction 
of the Army, if any compromise is proposed. 
Of course no Government will grant these 
comprehensive Reforms, unless prepared to 
trust something to the good sense of the 
People, and, on the other hand, no People will 
agree to such a compromise, unless it has some 
faith in the good intentions of its Government. 

As has been the case in England, Free Trade 
would be followed by good effects on both 



203 

People and Government. The Freedom of 
the Press, Religious Toleration, and a Con- 
stitutional form of Government would follow- 
as natural consequences. But so long as 
mutual mistrust remains, there can be no com- 
promise, and war is inevitable. 

Generally speaking, nothing is to be gained 
by War, the destruction of Life and Property 
being the only result. If some one acquainted 
with statistics would take the trouble of esti- 
mating the loss of capital consequent on a ten 
years' European War, in the present state of 
the World, it would open the eyes of all parties 
to the Evil. And if the statist would give an 
estimate of the pecuniary gain that would arise 
from the adoption of Free Trade and Retrench- 
ment, the difference in favour of Peace would 
be truly astounding. 

The monied interest ought especially to ad- 
vocate the universal adoption of Free Trade 
and Disarmament as the only remedy for the 
Revolution now about to desolate Europe. 



204 

A representation coming from that influential 
class, backed by a universal expression of 
Public Opinion, would command the earnest 
attention of every Cabinet in Europe. The 
interest of stockholders and loan contractors, 
more than any other class, is involved in the 
question at issue, and we know of none who 
could take the initiative with a better prospect 
of success. With a European War, one-half 
of the government debts of Europe would be 
repudiated, and the other half almost valueless. 

History presents no precedent by which to 
estimate the effect of a general War in the pre- 
sent advanced state of Civilization, and the 
excited state of the Public Mind all over the 
Continent. That it will be more bloody and 
dreadful than any previous War we cannot 
doubt, especially if France either wavers in her 
policy or takes a position hostile to Liberty. 

To the People we say, sacrifice your feel- 
ings if personal liberty and relief from op- 
pressive burdens be granted. Peace and Pro- 



205 

sperity is what you want, and if universal Free 
Trade be granted, and the Army reduced, you 
will not only reap substantial benefits, but 
possess a guarantee for their continuance. 

To those in power we say, place yourselves 
in the position of the People, and you would 
be as impatient of bondage as they. Already 
the People are taxed to the utmost bounds of 
endurance; and unless you put an end to Re- 
volution, by granting the necessary conces- 
sions, industrial decay will soon involve both 
Government and People in inextricable ruin. 

Even with no War, desolation awaits the 
Nations of the Continent if the present system 
continues. Armies and Taxation cannot go 
on increasing without producing a wilderness. 
It is by concession alone that the tumults of 
the People can be stopt. And if freedom from 
oppressive Taxation, and a reduction of the 
Army would reconcile an exasperated People, 
a more satisfactory way of restoring Peace and 
Prosperity could not be desired. 



• 206 

We are not of the opinion that this desirable 
result can best be effected by negociating with 
other Powers; let each Nation judge for itself, 
and if one Nation takes the initiative in Free 
Trade and Disarmament, its example will soon 
be followed. If either France or Germany 
would take the step indicated, other Nations 
would be glad to follow an example which was 
obviously the interest of all. 

England desires Universal Peace. The 
moral of her late Exhibition of the industrial 
Products of all Nations was " A fair field 
and no favour ;" and with this noble maxim 
■ — the basis of Justice and Peace — so empha- 
tically and opportunely expressed, the sincerity 
of England in advocating the cause of Justice 
and Peace to all the nations of the earth is 
manifest. 

England undoubtedly possesses the Key of 
Universal Peace. By reforming her Belief, 
and abolishing her Tariffs, she will produce 



207 

an effect on the World which ought to remove 
difficulties in the way of Peace. 

If the Press of England be unanimous in 
advocating a General Reformation, there will 
be no War ! The Revolution becomes a Re- 
formation ! 



k2 



208 



CHAPTER IX. 
CIVILIZATION—THE FUTURE. 



That our meaning may be as clear as possi- 
ble, we shall present the reader with the result 
of the present Work in a definite form. 

For this purpose we shall suppose thirty- 
years to have passed, and that all the Reforms 
proposed have been faithfully followed out and 
in full operation. Under the impression that 
we are living in the year 1882, we shall give a 
description of the then existing World. 

The reign of Selfishness and Oppression is 
ended, that of justice and benevolence has 
come. After a thirty years' conflict, truth 



209 

and toleration have prevailed over error 
and despotism. 

The Socialist Doctrine of Justice being sub- 
ordinate to Benevolence is extinct. 

Profound Peace reigns. The Government 
and boundaries of Nations have been finally 
fixed upon the principles of Justice. The 
causes of War and Revolution removed, their 
recurrence is impossible. The World has at 
last discovered, that men were not made for 
fighting or disputing about Political and Reli- 
gious Creeds. No standing armies exist. 

Different Governments and Churches exist. 
Some Nations are Monarchial, others Repub- 
lican, but all are free — even Russia itself has 
now a Constitutional Government. Some 
Churches are Episcopal, ruled by Bishops; 
others are Presbyterian or Congregational ; 
but on Belief there is perfect unity. 

The Mahometan and Pagan Religions stand 
out, but these are fast yielding to the influence 
of united Christendom. 



210 

The aim of the World was once to heap up 
riches and to tyrannize over each other, or to 
spend life in Devotion and Worship, falsely 
called Religion. The aim of all is now to be 
religious. Practice and not Profession has 
become the test of Religion, and in " doing the 
Truth" men love Truth and hate Error. 

The means of Religion had been mistaken 
for its object (self Reformation). Instead of 
doing good, a fruitless profession fostered 
superstition and oppression, and persecuted 
the Truth. The means of Grace are now 
used as such; the Churches are filled, and 
Ignorance, Irreligion, Vice and Wretchedness 
everywhere hide their faces. The command- 
ments of Christ, to follow Truth and to love 
God and our neighbour, in all we do and think, 
are universally acknowledged and acted on. 

Man can no longer rise by oppressing his 
neighbour. The abolition of Class privileges, 
and the removal of Ignorance, render this im- 
practicable; his attention is therefore turned 



211 

to the art of peace. As an individual, he 
educates himself, and rises to independence 
by industry; as a member of society his acts 
secure the good of alL 

There is now no inducement to shun the 
Truth oneself, or to mystify it so that others 
may not find it. No writer or publisher is 
any longer afraid to publish the Truth. Until 
now no press in Europe was ever free. The 
British press w T as free from government con- 
troul, but so long as respectable booksellers 
refused to publish works — for no other reason 
than that they discuss the Truth of established 
opinions and practices, — the English Press 
could not be said to be free, and until the 
Reformation had put down all opposition, the 
British press gave an uncertain sound. 

Until now the invention of Printing had 
produced no permanent fruit. The Press and 
the Pulpit have been the means by which the 
Second Reformation has been effected. While 
these means have given the World a glorious 



212 

Reformation, the Reformation has given a free 
Pulpit and Press. 

Knowledge or Science is now triumphant. 
Philosophy is absorbed in science, and for- 
gotten. Man is at last invested with com- 
plete dominion over Nature. The principles 
of Moral Science are universally submitted to. 
They admit of no more doubt than any fact 
of Mathematics or Chemistry. Science is not 
perfect, but it has attained that state of per- 
fection that its principles admit of universal 
application without fear of contradiction, and 
as far as the wants of Man are concerned, 
Knowledge is complete. 

The Sceptic and Idolator are extinct. 

The aim of the World is no longer the pur- 
suit of Power, but Righteousness. Desire for 
the adulation of others is supplanted by a 
desire to satisfy the Conscience; actual worth 
takes the place of hypocritical worth. 

Righteousness is the fountain of Happiness. 
Pleasure is not Happiness. When innocent, it 



213 

passes away with its cause, and has little or no 
influence over Happiness. When vicious it is 
followed by remorse. All men may be happy; 
for although the character of Happiness de- 
pends on talents, opportunities and acquire- 
ments, all who follow the dictates of the 
conscience are happy. From the beggar to 
the King on the Throne all good men have 
now one aim in Life, that of pleasing their own 
consciences. 

The supremacy of Conscience is complete. 

This Divine Aim causes all Men to prefer 
the dictates of the Understanding to those of 
the Feelings, and our inward convictions are 
felt to be the Voice of Conscience. Right is 
preferred to Wrong, and Truth to Error. To 
act otherwise, is to deviate from the acknow- 
ledged aim of Life. This error, formerly the 
rule of Life, is now the exception. 

Trade is universally Free. 

Instead of falling with the cost of living, 
Wages have risen. The increased facility given 
k5 



214 . 

to trade by the absence of Tariffs, and the in- 
crease of Capital, owing to the progress of 
science and the maintenance of peace through- 
out the world, have contributed to raise the 
value of Labour. 

The dominion of the Conscience has had a 
marked influence on this change. The World 
has discovered that Wealth is not the object of 
Life, and money is saved. The effect of this 

change is, that the hours of Labour are con- 
es * 

tracted, and manual labour ceases at earlier 
periods of Life. This desirable result has kept 
the labour and goods market from being over- 
stocked, and room is made for the employment 
of an increasing population. 

At length excessive competition has been 
checked, and the remedy for that evil found. 

Half the earnings of the World used to be 
spent in dissipation, and in keeping up standing 
armies and other useless appendages of Govern- 
ment. This waste has been greatly reduced, 
and the saving adds to the comforts and inde- 
pendence of all. 



215 

The abolition of class legislation has not 
abolished " Classes/' nor equalized Wealth. 
These inequalities remain. Stripped of unjust 
privileges, the benefit of a mixed state of Society- 
is acknowledged. The low have been raised, 
and the high possess nothing more than their 
right. Their lands, property and character are 
their own. The man of talents and enterprise, 
— it may be of fortune, — rises to be a ruler or 
a teacher. Master, Servant and Lord have their 
respective duties to perform, and these grada- 
tions of rank are great incentives to diligence. 
Nothing now prevents the peasant rising to the 
rank of the lord. 

Adventures in Trade were formerly as likely 
to be followed by loss as by profit. This evil 
is now removed; diligence and prudence seldom 
fail to be rewarded by success. Prosperity 
gladdens the hearth of all. This change in the 
commercial world is so satisfactory, that men 
are beginning to ask if there are any limits to 
the decrease of labour. That labour will con- 



216 

tinue to decrease with the increase of know- 
ledge, there is no doubt; and it is difficult to 
assign any limit to its reduction. 

Everywhere Art supplants Instinct. It is 
rapidly becoming universal. The actions of 
men are governed by the knowledge they have 
acquired of the Arts of Life, and actions are no 
longer left to chances or whim. The Laws of 
Nature are known and obeyed. Original 
Nature, both external and internal, gives place 
to cultivated Nature. Such is the object of 
creation, and the results we have named indi- 
cate much progress in fulfilling the intention of 
the Creator. 

The Consciousness of having done the Will 
of God imparts an abiding Happiness which 
surpasseth Knowledge. Possessing this know- 
ledge, Man is prepared for exchanging a life of 
probation for a superior state. We see the use 
of our past life. It has made us what we are — 
an Intelligence; and we know that He who so 



217 

wisely planned all nature to produce this pre- 
cious fruit will not suffer the product to be lost. 

If nature exhibited no proof of power as 
wonderful as preserving a spirit from death, 
we might fear the possibility of annihilation; 
but as creation abounds with such wonders, it 
is not the power but the will which is feared. 
The fear of God remains, but perfect Religion 
casteth out fear. 

It is more than probable that we could not 
become an immortal Intelligence without first 
being a mortal, and mortality involves the dis- 
solution of the Body. To be perfected in 
Heaven, it is necessary that all pass through 
death. 

The language of Scripture respecting the 
future is necessarily of a highly figurative 
character. The sacred writers could not other- 
wise have made their meaning understood, 
especially to the world in a primitive state of 
Civilization. The language of Heaven would 



218 

have conveyed no meaning without the use 
of figures belonging to terrestrial affairs. 

"The Judgment Day" is taken from a Court 
of Justice. " Fire" paints the agony of the 
Conscience. " Satan" is an apt personification 
of the subtlety and malignity of the unrenewed 
spirit. 

If we read the Scriptures literally, as regards 
a Judgment Day, that involves belief in an 
intermediate state. There is no reason to fear 
that such awaits us. We believe that the 
moment we pass out of this World we awake 
in eternal Life. 

If our Life here determines our state in the 
next — of which there is no doubt — then Hea- 
ven and Hell may be described as one World, 
in which every shade of condition marks the 
state of its inhabitants. Superior privileges 
will be the reward of the righteous, and infe- 
rior privileges the punishment of the wicked. 

We believe that Angels exist, and that Satan 
is a fallen angel ; but men have ceased to be- 



219 

lieve that a Personal Spirit entered into our 
first Parents, and polluted the Work of God, 
an interpretation which impeaches either the 
omnipotence or the perfection of the Almighty. 

Regarding the future life we can say little. 
That it will not be a state of Idleness there is 
no doubt, for the only preparation which this 
World gives would in that case be useless. A 
new language, — the language of Heaven, — 
must be learned, and the history of all worlds 
will furnish the materials of an endless Life of 
activity and joy. 

Such is an attempt to describe a regenerated 
World. Are we asked if the present generation 
is likely to witness its glory, we answer, that 
will depend on the verdict which England 
shall pass on the Civil and Religious questions 
which now agitate the Public Mind, and we 
trust we have done our part in supplying the 
materials of thought by which every Man may 
form his own opinion. 



220 



CHAPTEE X, 

THE SCHISM — REFORMATION 
UNAVOIDABLE. 



The Oxford aggressive party use this language 
to their Evangelical brethren : — 

j " That shams rot like cankers, and abound in 
the Church of England, is the source of present 
troubles, and the object of mutual dissensions. 

/ " These, and such as these, what are they 
but blots and scandals and shams, — shams eat- 
ing away the life of the Church, and paralysing 
her vigour, making us a spectacle of pity to 
God and to angels,- — a spectacle of derision to 
men, — an incubus dragging us down to the 



221 

dust, rendering exertion powerless and aspira- 
tion well nigh vain, — shaming decency and 
destroying truth, — and in many breasts, alas ! 
quenching faith ! Gradually acquiring, how- 
ever, the habit of probing into the depths of 
our system, we are getting weary of unreality. 
We are pronouncing against all compromisers I 
to ward off the evil dag." — Ecclesiastic. July, 
,1851. 

These few lines speak volumes. The spirit 
displayed shows that there exists a serious if 
not an irreparable breach between the two great 
parties into which the Church is split. 

The Oxford demand is nothing else than that 
the Clergy should be exalted into a separate race 
of men, and allowed to exercise an assumed 
supernatural sovereignty over the Intellect of 
the Nation. This demand cannot be granted by 
the People without giving up their own liberty 
of Conscience ; and if, in making this demand, 
the Oxford Party think they can carry the 
People with them, they will be sadly mistaken. 



222 

The People will discover that the right of pri- 
vate judgment (which the Reformation con- 
ferred) is to be taken away; and this only 
requires to be known, to open the eyes of the 
People to their danger. 

If the Church wishes to retain the confidence 
of the Nation, she must come boldly forward 
in this the Nation's hour of peril, and pronounce 
against priestly exaltation and anti-toleration ; 
for the present danger cannot be averted by 
a half-and-half protest against these innova- 
tions ? Unless a decided stand be authoritatively 
made, the fate of the Church is sealed. 

The question at issue resolves itself into this, 
— Is the supernatural authority claimed by the 
Oxford Party true or false? If it be true, it 
should be granted ; if false, the legislative power 
of the Church ought instantly to be put forth to 
suppress the heresy. 

The Church is all but rent asunder. Already 
two Churches seem to struggle in the womb of 
the future. The one demands that Toleration 



223 

be renounced, and looks abroad which way to 
turn. Unless the claim to apostolic privileges 
be given up, this section must either erect a 
new Church with a Hierarchy of its own, or 
submit to the degradation of going over to 
Rome. It is impossible to say what number of 
the clergy may be tainted with anti- toleration 
'principles, but we are afraid they amount to 
one-fifth of the entire Church — although the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, in his letter to Mr. 
Gauthorne, supposes the Church to be much 
more sound. 

To both Parties we make an appeal. To the 
Evangelical Party we say, be consistent, and act 
upon your belief, " that the effects of Grace are 
non-miraculous," and fear not to concede any 
prudent and well-considered scheme of Reform. 
Be candid, and either admit the claim of the 
Oxford party, or give up all claim to a super- 
naturally endowed Priesthood, for one or other 
of these alternatives is necessarily true. To 
the Oxford Party we say, go on with your 



224 

demand for Reform, to the utmost limit con- 
sistent with the principles of your Church and 
of Truth. The laity, like yourselves, are weary 
of " unreality" and will heartily join you in 
your endeavours to make Religion a real thing. 
To be the heralds of a new Reformation, 
and once more to spread the glad tidings of 

t( PEACE ON EARTH AND GOOD-WILL TO MEN," is 

an honour reserved for the few. If influence 
were the object, we would point to the coming 
Reformation as the road to it ; but a far higher 
principle must animate the Clergy, if, in the pre- 
sent emergency, Good is to come out of Evil. 
Let the spirit of party be exchanged for a spirit 
of conciliation, — let all parties meet on the prin- 
ciple of making concessions to Truth, then 
Truth will have her perfect work, and a divine 
harmony will restore the Church to her proper 
station and influence in the Nation, and the 
threatened Disruption will end in peace and 
prosperity. 



225 

The Westminster Assembly must once more 
be convened, after a recess of two centuries; 
and its duties will be of similar kind to that 
of the first. It will have to revise the work of 
the first Assembly, and produce a "Confession" 
in keeping with the advanced state of Know- 
ledge to which the world has happily reached — 
an Assembly, which may definitely settle the 
Articles of Faith for many generations to come. 

A northern journal offers the following ad- 
vice:— "The only chance, therefore, of fore- 
closing either of these gloomy issues, (viz. re- 
maining unreformed, or cancelling Toleration,) 
to all that this country has done on behalf of 
the cause of civil and religious liberty, would 
be a brave resolve on the part of the Church to 
purify her Faith; reconstruct the edifice of her 
Governmental System ; and conform her Prac- 
tice to the advance achieved by the age in 
Knowledge, Upon that sole condition can she 
combine the principles, dear to England, of 
independent action and generous toleration, and 



226 

under their united influence pursue triumph- 
antly the noble career which it is the mission 
of Protestantism to run, and make head against 
all priestly and political aggression, external or 
internal." 

Such we hope will immediately become the 
desire of the Church herself, and the united 
demand of the Nation. Before further Refor- 
mation is rejected, the Church would do well to 
remember the shortsighted policy of Tarquin 
when he refused to purchase the Books of the 
Sybil. Not less just is the demand for a Re- 
formation in the Church than was the demand 
of Mr. Cobden ; and we firmly believe that the 
final success of the Second Reformation is no 
less certain, than was the late Commercial Re- 
form when the aristocracy indignantly refused 
the liberal terms of Lord John Russell. 

If the Church refuse the excellent advice 
given grave results must ensue. The Church 
will speedily go to pieces of her own accord, 
and that bond which at present unites society 



227 

will be lost. England will then have to run her 
course under very different circumstances, for 
this bond once broken cannot be restored. 
The Church will be abandoned by the People, 
and the Nation will lose the benefits of her 
Church. 

If, on the other hand, the Church yields to 
the call for Reform, she will make a nobler 
sacrifice to the God of Truth than the world 
ever saw. It will be a spectacle to arrest the 
attention of thoughtless man, when a Clergy 
proves itself worthy of its high office as the ap- 
pointed Ministers of God, and the Guardians of 
the Religion of the Nation, — we say when the 
Church assumes this attitude, the Nation will 
welcome her to a position and an influence 
to which she is a stranger. Let her follow 
the advice given, and she shall have three- 
fourths of the people with her; if she refuse, 
error and disunion must cure themselves by the 
natural process of decay. Abuse will cure itself 
in the long run, but such cures are ever attended 



228 

with destructive effects, and it is in order to 
avoid destruction and revolution that we have 
ventured to propose an- adequate measure of 
Reform. 

The sacrifices which Truth demands are 
never palatable; and although the proposed 
Reformation may be startling at first, yet a 
little thought will convince any reasonable man 
that nothing but great sacrifices somewhere can 
put the Church right. And when the Clergy 
look to the other alternative, — that of renounc- 
ing Toleration, — they will find the sacrifices 
there demanded are much greater. 

But internal anarchy is not the only element 
which is sapping the foundations of Protestant- 
ism. Rome is likewise active. 

The Roman Catholic Clergy are zealous and 
enthusiastic, and with no opponents at all to 
compare with them in zeal, they are making 
sad havoc in our towns and villages. Unless 
there is a change for the better soon, Rome 
and Oxford must enrol the aristocracy within 



229 

their pale, and, what is no less discouraging, 
they will take the lower orders likewise. They 
have only to follow up what they have so suc- 
cessfully begun to bring about this issue. It 
has been proved that this must take place 
unless a purer faith be immediately adopted by 
the Protestants. Behold in prospect the first 
act in the drama. 

The last hope of Protestantism is in the 
middle classes, and in them we have every 
confidence; but when a section of a nation is 
hemmed in on all sides — as the middle classes 
will be — they must give way. They will con- 
tend to the last, fighting gloriously under a 
deceitful banner — that of justification by faith 
alone. How long the siege may hold out ^10 
man can say, but that Protestantism, both in 
England and on the Continent, is doomed to fall, 
unless completely reformed, there is no longer 
any reason to doubt. 

Lord Aberdeen, in speaking of the Papal 
Aggression, said, that every one was agreed that 

L 



230 

something ought to be done, but he omitted to 
say what that "something" was. The power 
of the Church of Rome in this country does 
not come from Parliament, but from Opinion ; 
hence, as Parliament has no jurisdiction over 
the cause of the Papal Aggression (or Roman 
propagandism), no act of Parliament can check 
its progress. It is by acting on opinion alone 
that the triumph of Rome can be stopped ; and 
in these circumstances we expect we have 
supplied what was wanting in his Lordship's 
speech, in instituting an inquiry into the ele- 
ments of Opinion, and in advocating the Second 
Reformation, which is the result of that in- 
quiry. 

It is to the adoption of a consistent protest 
against Superstition, and unfurling a better 
standard, that the Protestant Faith can be ex- 
pected to stand, and at last put down oppo- 
sition. Instead of one class of Miracles let her 
protest against all unscriptural Miracles; and 
instead of justification by faith alone, let the 



231 

banner of the Reformed Protestant Church be 
justification by faith in the Love of God and 
in the obedience of Man. 

A large proportion of men have no Creed, 
and those who have cannot define a single 
doctrine of the creed they profess to hold. The 
practice of Christianity is as defective as its 
creed. Great lamentations are made over the 
want of fruits; but as men cannot practise what 
they do not know or cannot comprehend, we 
must define the doctrines of our Faith before 
we can expect a satisfactory result. The pri- 
mitive and unintelligible state of our creed is 
sufficient to account for its want of success. The 
object of Religion is unknown; hence we need 
not wonder that such a state of religion pre- 
duces little fruit. 

Such is the deplorable state of Religion ; and 
the reason we desire a Reformation is simply to 
make an almost barren tree bear fruit, and be- 
cause it is the only cure for the Papal Aggres- 
sion, the schism in the Church of England, and 
l2 



232 

the dissensions among Protestants generally. 
Vast as these objects are, no one can doubt that 
they, in common with all evils, admit of a cure 
more or less perfect. The Church is the only 
means of delivering the world from the fetters 
of ignorance, irreligion, and misery. It is only 
by her that the cheering prophecies of the 
Bible can be fulfilled; and we have shown 
that this cannot come to pass without a Re- 
formation of our Creed. Reformation must be 
the prayer of every good man; and if that 
which we have proposed cannot be gainsaid, 
it ought to be accepted. The times are ex- 
tremely favourable to the present movement, 
for every one is impressed with the conviction 
that a Reform of some kind is wanted. 

Such is the present state of the Papal Ag- 
gression question in England, and the times 
are surely sufficiently critical to justify us in 
bringing forward an impartial and comprehen- 
sive inquiry into the whole question. There is no 
hope but in Reform, and if the Clergy will only 






233 

turn their attention to the subject they will dis- 
cover that if there is a hope, that hope is Reform. 
The Church of England has put off Reforma- 
tion so long that she must now make up her 
mind to lose a portion of her Clergy; but se- 
rious and alarming as this prospect is, it is 
surely better to come to a Reformation at once 
than to put off the day of reckoning until the 
entire Church is sunk in Superstition. There 
is encouragement in the fact that few of the 
laity are likely to follow the schismatics, if the 
cure is not delayed. Let a Reformation be 
pursued with a steady and well-defined pur- 
pose, and all will yet be well; otherwise woe 
to British Liberty and Toleration. 



234 



CHAPTEE XI. 
CONCLUSION. 



The Priesthood. 

Feeling. What is the Catholic Church ? 

Intellect. A Catholic can have no Faith inde- 
pendent of "The Holy Catholic Church" 
— a fiction which comes in the place of God, 
and occupies the place of Evidence. 

With this fiction the Catholic needs no 
evidence for Scripture, Traditions, or any thing 
that the Clergy or Church says or does. 
Shake a Catholic's faith in this Idol, he has 
nothing left. His belief in Scripture and 



235 

Tradition vanishes with his Faith in a mira- 
culously supported Priesthood. 

Feel. Explain the Theory of " The Holy 
Catholic Church." 

Intel. The theory of a Supernaturally sup- 
ported Priesthood is —that Christ would not 
have undertaken the Salvation of the World, 
and only appeared on the earth for a short 
period, and to a limited portion of mankind. 
It is therefore taken for granted that Christ 
has provided for the wants of his Church in 
all ages and nations by means of a standing 
Priesthood or Church, and that the Roman 
Catholic Church alone is that Church. 

Such is the utmost that can be said in sup- 
port of the Doctrine. It will be perceived, that, 
although the reasoning is exceedingly plausible, 
it is reasoning upon a pure assumption, as no 
evidence of any kind is offered. 

This Doctrine constitutes the Priest a kind 
of mediator between God and man. To him 
alone are committed the oracles of God. The 



236 

word of God must be exclusively interpreted 
by the " Church." 

To the Clergy this fiction offers Power and 
Influence over the People. To the People it 
brings down an offended God to treat with 
them for the remission of Sin, through the 
mediation of the Priest. Christ is made to 
authorize the forgiveness or retention of Sin by 
the priest. By compliance with the demands 
of the priest, any Catholic can assure himself 
of Heaven. Belief in the fiction of u the Holy 
Catholic Church" is pleasing to human nature. 
It is a delusion destructive of the highest inte- 
rests of Man. 

Feel. State your authority for calling the 
theory a fiction. 

Intel. It is impossible to disprove a negative; 
but so long as the Catholic and Oxford Party 
refuse to condescend on evidence, the doctrine 
of" a Holy Catholic Church" is a nullity. 

Feel. The Catholics appeal to Scripture and 
Tradition. 



237 

Intel. If they did, the Papal claim could 
easily be disproved. The Papal Church claims 
the right arbitrarily to interpret the Scripture 
on its own authority, thereby showing that the 
Church of Rome claims to be a co-ordinate if 
not a superior authority to Scripture, Tradition 
or Experience. 

Feel. The Church of Rome exists, and ap- 
peals to that Fact. 

Intel. I deny sovereign authority to any 
Church whatever; for instance, I deny an 
exclusive right to any Church to determine 
the Will of God, or any right to forgive or 
retain Sin. 

Christianity in the early centuries of the 
Church took the form of Catholicism, which 
has been shown to be a corruption of pure 
Doctrine, on the model of the Jewish Church. 
If any Church could claim a delegated autho- 
rity from the Deity, the Protestant Church — 
which is partially reformed Catholicism — has a 
better claim than the Church of Rome. 
l5 



238 

Feel. The Catholic Church is older than the 
Protestant. 

Intel. That Catholic Church sprung out of a 
low state of civilization, and confessedly less 
pure than the Reformed Churches. If age was 
a credential of a Divine Mission, the religions 
of Brahma and Buddha might claim the sove- 
reignty of Christendom, as they are older than 
the Church of Rome. 

As the controversy now stands, the Catho- 
lics rest their authority on no evidence what- 
ever; and being in that position, the Protestants 
are entitled to call the Doctrine on which the 
authority of the Papal Church rests — a Fiction 
and a Superstition. 

Feel. The Catholic Church appeals to our 
Lord's words to St. Peter — " On this rock will 
I build my Church, &c." 

Intel. If the Catholic Church derives her 
authority from Scripture, she must submit to 
Scripture; and that condition is incompatible 
with the claim set up by the Church of Rome! 



239 

Our Lord gave no power to St. Peter to insti- 
tute an endless succession of Bishops and 
Clergy, and it is certain the Apostle never ex- 
ercised such a power. The Doctrine of per- 
petual Apostolic Ordination either involves a 
miracle performed on those receiving Ordina- 
tion, or it means nothing; and no man can 
listen to that doctrine without believing in mi- 
racles. Miracles for which no evidence, either 
from scripture or fact, can be adduced. 

Feel. I do not see how the Church of Eng- 
land can consistently protest against the Ca- 
tholic Church, so long as the doctrine of " The 
Holy Catholic Church" is one of the articles of 
her own creed. 

Intel. She cannot. While the Protestants 
hold that doctrine, they must expect defeat. 
With that doctrine the Church of England is 
neither Catholic nor Protestant. The Papal 
Aggression will inevitably drive the Church of 
England to Rome, or to a new Reformation; 
for there is no middle course between Truth 
and Error. 



240 

Feel. While I deny the claim of the Catholic 
and Oxford Clergy to Apostolic power, I am 
not prepared to go the length of saying that 
the Clergy are nothing more than Instructors, 
to whom the cure of souls is committed. 

Intel. It is easier to deny than to prove; 
since you object to my opinion, perhaps you 
will state yours. If a Clergyman is not spe- 
cially and supernaturally endowed for his 
office, you will find it impossible to make him 
more than a man. 

Feel. There is no middle course between 
your doctrine and Oxford or Rome. The ex- 
isting Schism will force the Church to speak 
out and state what her Belief really is. I agree 
with you that the claim of Rome is a fiction ; 
but I do not like the alternative of a Reforma- 
tion. 

Intel. There are many Churches of the Re- 
formation which hold no such fiction, and their 
Clergy are quite as much respected as those 
who claim Apostolic powers. 



241 

Feel. Would it not be dangerous to Religion 
for the Churches of Rome and England to 
renounce their claim to Divine right ? 

Intel. It is certain that Error cannot pro- 
duce Good; and as the claim set up by Rome 
and Oxford is erroneous, it will be the salva- 
tion of Religion at once to renounce it. The 
whole scope of the New Testament is opposed 
to the idea of an exclusive Church. 

Feel. Then you think the Clergy of the 
Christian Church are not Priests in the sense 
attached to that word in the Old Testament. 

Intel. Certainly not. The Old Testament 
dispensation was a Theocracy, with ordained 
sacrifices to be offered by priests, who were to 
stand, as it were, between God and Man, and 
make atonement for the people. But under 
the New Dispensation the old Religion is abo- 
lished. 

Feel. Since the Catholic Faith necessarily 
excludes the light of evidence and reason, 



242 

the Catholics will be the last to join the Re- 
formation. 

Intel. I am not certain of that. The major 
difficulty to the Reformation of the Catholic 
Church is removed when a true and consistent 
Faith is proposed for its adoption. A Catholic 
cannot purify his Faith until he knows some- 
thing better; and if the new Reformation is 
more in accordance with his convictions of 
Truth than his present Faith, an immediate re- 
formation of the Catholic Church may be ex- 
pected. The Second Reformation will speak 
as powerfully to the consciences of Catholics as 
of Protestants. 

Feel. Will you now explain the claim of the 
Oxford Party? 

Intel. Both in spirit and in doctrine their 
claim is identical with that of the Church of 
Rome. 

The Oxford party, like the Catholics, claim 
supernatural power to the Priesthood. They 
demand the exclusive right of determining the 



243 

will of the Almighty, and of making that will 
known to the People in the forgiveness or re- 
tention of their sins. They, like the Catholics, 
can have no Faith independently of " The Holy 
Catholic Church" and by means of that super- 
stition they conveniently evade the necessity of 
evidence for their Belief. 

You will perceive, that with the fiction of 
" the Church" to fall back upon, the Clergy 
may make their Belief what they please, with- 
out fear of contradiction. This fact shows the 
enormity of the claim, and the danger which 
now threatens the Nation. 

Feel. I quite agree with you, that both 
Scripture and Experience condemn the claim 
put forth by the Clergy of Rome and Oxford. 
It is a claim to Class Privileges of a most 
subtile and dangerous kind, one which no 
people can grant without renouncing liberty of 
Conscience, and laying violent hands on Rea- 
son, the noblest gift of God, and the only 
guardian of liberty. The Right of Private 
Judgment is the sheet-anchor of Civilization. 



244 

The Reign of Truth. 

Feel. What is Truth? 

Intel. Belief, founded on Evidence. 

Feel. What is Evidence ? 

Intel. The light of Nature and Revelation; 
viz. Scripture and Facts. 

Feel. What is Superstition? 

Intel. Belief, without Evidence. 

Feel. What is Scepticism? 

Intel. Unbelief of Truth. 

Feel. What do you mean by the supremacy 
of the Conscience ? 

Intel. To obey the dictates of Truth in pre- 
ference to the impulse of Feeling is to be ruled 
by the Conscience. 

Feel. Your principle is good, but you will 
never get men to practise it; unfortunately 
Self-denial is unpleasant. 

Intel. Reason and Conscience are powerful. 
Man is so constituted, that if you convince him 
of a Truth he can only disobey such conviction 
at the expense of mental suffering. 



245 

Self-denial is elevating to the character, 
and it soon becomes much more pleasant than 
the gratification of impulse. Knowledge and 
Practice is all that is wanting to regenerate 
the World. The Almighty has left nothing 
unprovided for. 

Feel. What is Religion? 

Intel Practice is Religion. Faith is Theology 
or Belief. 

I. The Christian obeys the dictates of his 
Conscience in preference to the impulse of his 
Feelings. 

II. He prefers the good of others to his own 
good, when these principles jar. The first 
principle governs Belief, the last Action. 

Self-denial in practice has been entirely 
overlooked by the Christian Church. This is 
the cause why all religious and political creeds 
are so defective and so unsuccessful. 

Feel. Will you explain the first-named prin- 
ciple more fully ? 

Intel. To like and dislike without Reason is 



246 

pure Feeling. Impulse or Feeling, minus 
Reason, is common to the lower animals. It is 
original nature unenlightened by the intellect. 
If we believe and act simply because we like 
to do so, we sin against our better nature, and 
against the precepts of Christ. The Conscience 
must be consulted and obeyed. 

Feel. If it be w r rong to obey the Feelings, 
when condemned by the understanding, I 
should like to know how the feelings should 
have been created with us. 

Intel. The susceptibilities and faculties of 
the Soul form the germ of the Soul, and unless 
these existed, there could no more be a Soul 
than the stately oak could grow without an 
acorn. 

Feel. I have always been taught that the 
Religion of the Heart is everything, and the 
Understanding nothing, and you now tell me 
that the religion of the Heart is evil and Sin, 
unless it be acted on by the understanding ! 
Will you state your authority for this ? 



247 

Intel In the third chapter of St. John's 
Gospel, our Saviour condemns those who love 
Darkness. This is the gratification of the Feel- 
ings and denial of the Understanding. He 
commends those who do the Truth, and we 
cannot do the Truth unless we first know the 
Truth. Such is my authority for saying that 
the Religion of the Feelings, unenlightened by 
the understanding, is Irreligion. 

Feel. Feeling is powerful to guide action, 
but Intellect is cold and imbecile. The change 
you propose would rob Religion of its power. 

Intel. Do not misunderstand me. I do not 
propose to discourage the Religion of the Feel- 
ings; on the contrary, I would stimulate such; 
but what I insist on is, that the Feelings be 
subjected to the authority of the Conscience. 

Feel. I have always admired the third chap- 
ter of St. John above all the chapters of the 
Bible, but your interpretation never occurred 
to me before. Yours is unquestionably a new 
interpretation, but like the thousand and one 



248 

which have preceded it, I presume you have 
no proof of its truth which does not apply to 
others. 

Intel. I have. What distinguishes my in- 
terpretation from all its predecessors is, that it 
agrees with the Test of Experience. 

Feel. That is new. What is Experience? 

Intel. I. Ascertained facts relating to ex- 
ternal things. II. Ascertained facts relating to 
our internal consciousness. From these two 
sources all knowledge comes. Science is the 
World's repository of knowledge. Into it dis- 
coveries are poured, and from which all con- 
flicting Belief is excluded. 

Feel. May not facts deceive ? 

Intel. A supposed fact contradicting other 
facts is not a fact. It is therefore a contra- 
diction to suppose that general facts or prin- 
ciples can be fallacious. 

Feel. Will you now explain your second 
principle, that of preferring the good of others 
to our own when these are contrary ? 



249 

Intel. To be charitable, and not judge evil 
of our neighbour's motives without sufficient 
reason, is one aspect of Christian practice. 
Another is to do nothing to injure our neigh- 
bour; both duties flow from Love. Now 
abideth Faith, Hope, Charity, but the greatest 
of these is Charity or Love. The 13th chapter 
of Corinthians, from which these words are 
taken, gives a perfect description of Christian 
practice. St. Paul prefers Practice to Faith. 

Feel. You take Scripture for the ground- 
work, and use your Intellect — which you say 
comes from Knowledge and Reason — to inter- 
pret its meaning. 

Intel. Precisely. 

Feel. Previous attempts to reform Religion 
either fell into the error of Rationalism, by ig- 
noring the Feelings, or into Spiritualism, by 
ignoring the Intellect. You seem to have 
avoided both errors; and if you have succeeded 
in pulling up the Tares without injuring the 
Wheat, the great want of the age is supplied. 



250 

Intel. You may rely upon it God did not 
give Experience and Reason for nothing — the 
neglect of these adjuncts of nature is the 
cause of the failure of Civilization, and the pre- 
valence of suffering. Not only are Reason and 
Experience the best gifts of God, but they 
include all gifts. That they are the intended 
interpreters of the Scriptures is certain. 

Feel. Then to cultivate the understanding, 
and to love your neighbour, is the whole of re- 
ligion. 

Intel. Certainly not. The first and great 
commandment is, to love God. 

Feel. Will you explain that great duty? 

Intel. We love God when we do Jiis com- 
mandments. A perception of the love of God 
to man in the gift of Christ, calls forth the 
emotion of love to God in return. This sup- 
plies a new motive to the practice of Religion. 

Feel. Then the religious state of the soul 
depends on the conduct. 

Intel. It does. Without the practice of love 



251 

to our neighbour there can be no Religion. 
In that case it is impossible to love God. 
St. Paul states, that although our Faith could 
remove mountains, yet without Love we are 
nothing. 

Feel. I am convinced that Faith without 
Works is dead, in other words, that Practice 
and not Faith is Religion. Will you now de- 
fine Religion? 

Intel. Righteousness, or right conduct, is 
Religion. 

Feel. Do you include Religious Services in 
Right conduct? 

Intel. Of course. Public worship is neces- 
sary to keep Man in remembrance of his de- 
pendence on God for all things, and his obli- 
gation to love and serve him in all we do. The 
Ordinances of Religion are the means of Reli- 
gion, not Religion itself. 

Feel. My Feelings alone rebel against the 
Reformation. I have all along been taught to 
rely exclusively on Faith for Righteousness, 



252 

and you now tell me I must be righteous 
myself. 

Intel. A Tree is known by its Fruit. " With- 
out holiness no man shall see the Lord." 
" The pure in heart see God." Unless we 
have righteousness, it is certain we cannot be 
Christians. This is common sense, and now 
that you have granted the authority of Con- 
science, you must submit to its dictates. 

Feel. If I felt I had the power to improve 
myself, my fear would cease. 

Intel. You cannot have this experience until 
you make a trial. There is no difficulty in 
giving effect to the dictates of your under- 
standing in preference to your feelings, if you 
please to do it ; neither is there any difficulty 
in acting so as not to injure your neighbour; 
and as these two duties embrace the immediate 
object of Christianity, it is certain that man 
may be righteous if he pleases. Man is per- 
fectly free to do good or evil. 



253 

Feel. I must confess I do not see how we 
could be responsible, if I had no power to 
work Righteousness, as well as to work Evil; 
nor can I understand the use of Christ's 
preaching, if his hearers had no power to turn 
from their sins. I have attended Church faith- 
fully during a long lifetime. I have read little 
else than Religious Books all my days. But 
although my Conscience has been soothed, I 
am not a whit better or wiser than when I first 
imagined myself converted. My inner man 
has undergone no change, except to be more 
rebellious than ever. My only resource was 
to lay the blame of my evil spirit on Satan and 
my first parents. Now I perceive the mission 
of Christ was to proclaim the Truth, and warn 
men to flee from the wrath to come. — I per- 
ceive that Belief is not Religion. The only 
way I can account for my error is, that I never 
before took the trouble to think for myself. 



254 



Objections answered. 

Feel. The proposed Reformation would restore 
the Catholic Doctrine of Works. 

Intel. Certainly not. The doctrine that 
Practice and not Faith is Religion — the essence 
of the Second Reformation — never belonged to 
the Catholic Church. The Catholic doctrine 
of Works is seeking Salvation from the observ- 
ance of Human ordinances. That doctrine 
being destructive of the practice of Christianity 
it cannot be too strongly condemned. 

Feel. What is your objection to the present 
interpretation of the New Testament ? Do not 
the Clergy stimulate the Feelings, and at the 
same time cultivate the understanding? 

Intel. Religion, as it now stands, is every- 
thing and nothing ! Man is told that he can 
do nothing, and yet he must work, or his re- 
ligion is vain. That he can know nothing 
and yet ignorance is evil. In teaching oppo- 
sites, there is no wonder that men are ever 



255 

kept learning, and never coming to the know- 
ledge of the Truth — that Conversion is ever 
talked about, but no one is ever converted. 
Let the Church be consistent and remove in- 
consistency from her creed, and there is no 
difference between my views and Evangelicism. 

Feel. You say Christ came to publish the 
Truth and warn men to flee from coming 
Wrath. I grant this, but unless Christ's work 
includes the idea of a sacrifice, it would be im- 
possible to account for his crucifixion. 

Intel. That does not follow. That the no- 
tion of a sacrifice should have arisen in the 
Church is very natural, since the Jewish worship 
abounded with sacrifices; but if such had been 
the intention of Christ, he would have said so. 
He says, " I lay down my life for the sheep," 
but he does not say that He did so as a sacri- 
fice. 

Without the Suffering, Death and Resur- 
rection, Christ's words would have convinced 
no man in a degenerate age, like that in which 
m 2 



256 

our Saviour appeared. To speak of Truth to 
the crowds that surrounded him, without at 
the same time working miracles, and especially 
without a violent Death and a visible Resur- 
rection, would have produced no conversions. 
Until after the accomplishment of the Resur- 
rection, the number of the disciples was small, 
but after that event the converted increased to 
thousands, showing the effect of the miracle of 
our Saviour's Death and Resurrection to en- 
force conviction. 

Feel. I am not convinced. 

Intel. I grant there are several passages in 
the New Testament which, if read literally, 
involve the idea of a Sacrifice. But the mean- 
ing of these passages cannot be determined 
without first considering the general scope of 
Scripture, and above all, the object of Religion. 
This done, you will find it impossible to read 
such in the literal sense. The figure of an 
atoning Sacrifice is doubtless used by the 
sacred writers to show forth to the Jews the 



257 

necessity of Christ's death and sufferings. And 
when we remember that their minds were 
wholly engrossed with a Religion of Works — 
of which an atonement and daily sacrifice were 
the chief — the mystery is explained. 

There is as much authority for interpreting 
the Scripture figuratively, as regards Evil and 
Sin, and their cure, as there is regarding " the 
real presence" in the Sacrament. 

Unless " this is my Body" may be rendered 
figuratively, in obedience to the dictates of the 
Intellect, there could have been no first Refor- 
mation ; and unless St. Paul's discourses on 
the work of Christ can be read without involv- 
ing the idea of an actual Sacrifice — in the 
Christian as in the Jewish Church — there can 
be no second Reformation. 

Feel. Will you state the point on which the 
discussion ought to turn? 

Intel. If original sin be true, an atonement 
is indispensable; but if untrue, that is ob- 
viously unnecessary and contradictory. If ori- 



258 

ginal sin cannot be maintained, you will agree 
with me that St. Paul's words, as to sacrifice, 
must be taken in a figurative sense ; and when 
you have granted this, every difficulty in the 
New Testament is explained. 

Feel. I have been accustomed to expect the 
Divine forgiveness in consequence of Belief 
alone. You expect pardon in consequence of 
obedience to the commandments of Christ to 
love God and your neighbour, and on the love 
and mercy of God proclaimed by the Saviour. 
Suppose I hold both Faiths ? 

Intel. Faith in Obedience is alone compati- 
ble with the express commandments of Christ, 
and it alone agrees with the testimony of 
Experience, and leaves Nature unimpaired. 
I would have no objection to your Belief being 
superadded to mine, if such would not destroy 
my Belief and produce Scepticism. 

Your Belief and mine are opposites ; I must 
either give up mine and take yours, or you 
must give up yours and take mine. Double 



259 

Faith keeps one always in a half state between 
Belief and Scepticism— neither a happy nor a 
profitable state, in which to spend a precious 
lifetime. The conduct governs Happiness, 
whether we rely on Belief, or on Works. A 
double-minded Man is unstable in all his ways. 

Feel. You are going upon the principle that 
the improvement of Man is the sole object of 
Christ's coming. 

Intel. Certainly. 

Feel. Is not God's object double? 1st. to 
glorify himself; 2nd. to improve Man. 

Intel. That cannot be. You confound the 
motive with the object. The first is the motive 
of God in the mission of the Saviour; the 
second the object of that Mission. 

Feel. It is more agreeable to rely on Divine 
righteousness than on a life of Christian Love 
and self-denial. 

Intel. Knowledge has its pleasures as well 
as ignorance, and habit makes anything plea- 



260 

sant. I grant that self-improvement is difficult 
and disagreeable at first, but when men are 
convinced it is their interest to improve, they 
will sacrifice their prejudices. 

The change from a reliance on mere Belief 
to a reliance on Obedience must come some- 
time, if the World is ever to be delivered from 
suffering, oppression and wretchedness, and 
the sooner the Truth be told the better. When 
we look at the present state of the World it ap- 
pears as if the time for Reformation had fully 
come. The Catholics are fast closing in upon 
the Protestants in every country in Europe, 
and none more than in England. Ireland is 
ruled by a foreign Prince — a power which may 
at any time be used against us. The Reform- 
ation not only promises the removal of these 
evils, but it will certainly unite all Christendom 
in the ties of brotherhood. To the entire race, 
as well as to individual men, the Reformation 
offers peace and prosperity. 



261 

Feel. Are you prepared to obviate every pos- 
sible objection? 

Intel. One thing is certain, that no objection 
can be brought against the new interpretation 
which does not apply to the old. The test of 
Experience must decide between the two In- 
terpretations. And Nature must be consulted 
as well as Scripture. Fortunately, the best 
Books on orthodox Theology grant the prin- 
ciple that no interpretation can be true which 
contradicts facts. With that admission my 
position is impregnable. 

Feel. Suppose I tell you the Intellect has 
nothing to do with Religion. Is not Revela- 
tion supernatural, and therefore above Reason? 

Intel. One would think you were a Catholic, 
and while you hold your present opinion it 
will be difficult to reach you. 

Feel. I grant the Intellect has to do with 
Practice but not with Faith. 

Intel. Belief must be founded on something, 



262 

or it is mere fancy or caprice. You will grant 
that the only Belief worthy of the name must 
be founded on the Scriptures, or on facts. 

Feel. I get my Faith from the Scriptures. 

Intel. Place the Bible before an irrational 
animal, it cannot understand a word. It has 
no faith. It is in consequence of Reason that 
you have any faith. You must therefore be 
convinced that Intellect cannot be separated 
from Faith any more than from Practice. 

You can change your Belief when your 
Reason is convinced, but not otherwise. This 
is the proof that true Belief depends on Reason 
and Knowledge. 

Feel. Having told me from whence Truth 
comes, will you explain the origin of Super- 
stition ? 

Intel. Superstition comes from instinct, in 
connection with imperfectly understood Expe- 
rience. 



263 



The Reformation. 

Feel. Will you state what is intended by the 
Second Reformation. 

Intel. Improved Action consequent on Im- 
proved Knowledge, can alone reform and im- 
prove the World. By reformation Evil and 
Sin may be so far reduced as to be confined 
to exceptional cases. 

Feel. Then it is not merely a Reformation in 
Belief, but a reformation in Action, which you 
intend. 

Intel. Certainly. There can be no improve- 
ment in Opinion which does not show itself in 
Action. 

Feel. What is Action ? 

Intel. There are Actions of thought, word 
and deed; the term " Conduct" expresses 
every variety of Human Action. 

Feel. Will you point out the particular mea- 
sures the people should agitate. 

Intel. The Reformation ought to commence 



264 

with something practical ; I will therefore state 
three demands, which embrace in their discus- 
sion all the subjects which call for Reform- 
ation. 

I. Direct Taxation. — This Reform will 
enlist in the cause of the Reformation many 
who would otherwise be indifferent spectators. 
Universal free trade will complete the downfall 
of Class interests, and spread the blessings of 
peace and prosperity far and wide. Its influ- 
ence will cross the Channel, and prepare other 
Nations for a general Reformation. 

II. Church Patronage. — Reformation is 
impossible without improved Knowledge, and 
unless the people have a voice in the election 
of their teachers, there can be no guarantee for 
a general and sustained Reformation in Know- 
ledge and Religion. Let Petitions cover the 
Table of both Houses of Parliament until this 
just demand be granted. 



265 

III. Doctrinal Reform. — Knowledge and 
Civilization must remain stereotyped until this 
Reform be granted. The People cannot be 
expected to suffer privations for the sake of 
Class privileges and obsolete Doctrines; and 
the Will of the Nation only requires to be 
expressed to secure a complete revision of the 
doctrine of Faith. Let the People petition their 
respective Churches as well as Parliament to 
call a second Westminster Assembly to settle 
the doctrines of the Reformation. 

Feel, Your scheme is practicable, and pro- 
vided the Press be favourable to the movement, 
the People will not be slow to carry a Reform- 
ation on which their future welfare depends. 
You are aware the Clergy cannot take the 
initiative in any Reformation. But with a 
unanimous Press in its favour, they will be as 
anxious as the People can be to throw off the 
tyranny of Superstition. 

Intel. Reject the Reformation, and the Dark 
Ages are repeated. Accept it, and Civilization 

N 



266 

passes to its final stage. The reign of Truth, 
Justice and Benevolence begins. 



We have now completed a laborious — but, 
we trust, not an unprofitable — investigation 
into prevailing opinions and practices with a 
view to a General Reformation. 

The means by which the present transition 
state of society may be so improved that future 
good may come out of present evil have been 
pointed out. By a general Reformation in the 
Church and in the State, both at home and 
abroad, the causes of disaffection will be re- 
moved ; and instead of a future of war and 
retrogression, the world shall enjoy a future of 
peace and progress. 

We have shown that England cannot adopt 
the principles of the proposed Reformation 
without producing a similar result on the rest 
of Europe. To take advantage of the present 
opportunity to reform what was left unre- 



267 

formed by the first Reformation, is the proper 
duty of England, and the only preventive of 
War. 

If England takes the initiative in the great 
work of Reformation, the general Revolution 
through which the World is now passing will 
be converted into a general Reformation. And 
in the hope these pages will not be without 
their use in the present extraordinary crisis of 
the World's history, we respectfully withdraw. 



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i IRRARY OF CONGRESS 

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